frozen taskbar

Hi there,

I just updated my system (xp pro) to sp2. 512 mb ram / 70 gig free space.
defragged. Now, it take about 20 mins (sometimes more) to get to the point
where i can use my pc. my taskbar is frozen. mousing over it shows the
hourglass. I have run norton antivirus, spybot, ad aware, cwshredder,
hijack this .... without any results. dont know what to do at this point. any
ideas?

I have asked this question before ( about a week back) without any anwer. i
have also browsed the entire xp newsgroup for xp and found a few questionsa
about this without any replies. for those with replies you get the standard
-" run virus scan and spybot and adaware and cwshreeder and ....et.c). I have
done all that.

Is there someone who can really nail this? I have been at this for about 2
weeks now. Any Micsosoft MVP around here?

A lot of questions seem to go unanswereed here .. toally negating the
usefulness of this group.. You can tell i am desparate. dont have titme to
muck around with the pc for 2 weeks!

Victor

There are plenty of helpful folks here, as well as in the XP groups, where
this would be better addressed.
Mke very sure you have made really good checks for scumware.

Next, take a close look at your Startup applications. You can use MSCONFIG
to look at Startup programs, plus services added on by 3rd-party apps.
Now then, you have to cover all bases. Suggest you go to Doug Knox's site
www.dougknox.com and get & use Startup Tracker 3. Make inventory of all
startups. Get rid of the un-needed startups & anything suspicious.

I would recommend running CWShrederr, antivirus, etc in Safe Mode.

More than likely its a device driver issue, startup app that's causing your
problem.
--
Maurice N
MVP Windows - Shell / User
--
"Victor" wrote
> Hi there,
>
> I just updated my system (xp pro) to sp2. 512 mb ram / 70 gig free space.
> defragged. Now, it take about 20 mins (sometimes more) to get to the point
> where i can use my pc. my taskbar is frozen. mousing over it shows the
> hourglass. I have run norton antivirus, spybot, ad aware, cwshredder,
> hijack this .... without any results. dont know what to do at this point.
> any
> ideas?
>
> I have asked this question before ( about a week back) without any anwer.
> i
> have also browsed the entire xp newsgroup for xp and found a few
> questionsa
> about this without any replies. for those with replies you get the
> standard
> -" run virus scan and spybot and adaware and cwshreeder and ....et.c). I
> have
> done all that.
>
> Is there someone who can really nail this? I have been at this for about 2
> weeks now. Any Micsosoft MVP around here?
>
> A lot of questions seem to go unanswereed here .. toally negating the
> usefulness of this group.. You can tell i am desparate. dont have titme to
> muck around with the pc for 2 weeks!
>
> Victor
>

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have no doubt there are plenty of hepful folks
here.
I have done the msconfig thing. Literally emptied out almost all programs
in the startup except one or two which i knew to be core xp apps.

I suspect its a devide driver issue ... but dont know which device driver...
I used hijack this to figure out the stuff in start up and progressively
emptied it out without any results.

what else can i do?

Victor

"Maurice N ~ MVP" wrote:

> There are plenty of helpful folks here, as well as in the XP groups, where
> this would be better addressed.
> Mke very sure you have made really good checks for scumware.
>
> Next, take a close look at your Startup applications. You can use MSCONFIG
> to look at Startup programs, plus services added on by 3rd-party apps.
> Now then, you have to cover all bases. Suggest you go to Doug Knox's site
> www.dougknox.com and get & use Startup Tracker 3. Make inventory of all
> startups. Get rid of the un-needed startups & anything suspicious.
>
> I would recommend running CWShrederr, antivirus, etc in Safe Mode.
>
> More than likely its a device driver issue, startup app that's causing your
> problem.
> --
> Maurice N
> MVP Windows - Shell / User
> --
> "Victor" wrote
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I just updated my system (xp pro) to sp2. 512 mb ram / 70 gig free space.
> > defragged. Now, it take about 20 mins (sometimes more) to get to the point
> > where i can use my pc. my taskbar is frozen. mousing over it shows the
> > hourglass. I have run norton antivirus, spybot, ad aware, cwshredder,
> > hijack this .... without any results. dont know what to do at this point.
> > any
> > ideas?
> >
> > I have asked this question before ( about a week back) without any anwer.
> > i
> > have also browsed the entire xp newsgroup for xp and found a few
> > questionsa
> > about this without any replies. for those with replies you get the
> > standard
> > -" run virus scan and spybot and adaware and cwshreeder and ....et.c). I
> > have
> > done all that.
> >
> > Is there someone who can really nail this? I have been at this for about 2
> > weeks now. Any Micsosoft MVP around here?
> >
> > A lot of questions seem to go unanswereed here .. toally negating the
> > usefulness of this group.. You can tell i am desparate. dont have titme to
> > muck around with the pc for 2 weeks!
> >
> > Victor
> >
>
>
>

Begin step # 1: Turn off "reboot on error" setting for Windows.

Go to My Computer, then select Properties. Select the "Advanced" TAB and in
the Startup and Recovery section click the "Settings" button. At System
Failure block,
"Un-check" the "Automatically restart" line. Apply change, make clean exit.

This will prevent a "reboot on error", and will also show (when you have
Windows exception) the error code and its description.

IF a STOP error occurs, write down its number and complete description and
follow up on fixes.

If Normal mode of Windows is still "re-booting" itself, reboot pc ...
Try F8 selective startup of XP ---- choose the option with "boot logging".
Hopefully you would then be able to see the contents of "Ntbtlog.txt", see
which drivers and services may be the problem. The following is a snippet
from XP's Help and Support: on Enable Boot Logging

Starts while logging all the drivers and services that were loaded (or not
loaded) by the system to a file.

This file is called ntbtlog.txt and it is located in the %windir% directory.


See Aumha.org's knowledge base on stop errors and keep it handy
http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php

Get and run Doug's Startup Tracker program (as per my last note). Research
results. See what needs to be removed.

If you get stuck in loading Windows in Normal mode, reboot into Safe Mode
(tap F8 at bootup).
Use XP's Event Viewer to get more detail on your "error".
Start button/ Run / type
eventvwr.msc<enter> --
or Go to Control Panel / Performance and Maintenance/Administrative
Tools >Event Viewer.
Review the sections and look for Errors or Warnings that match the
time the event occurred.
Double click the line that is at issue---the information may give a
clue on the issue.

Also see Windows XP SP2 - FAQ & Best Practices" at Aumha.org
http://forum.aumha.org/index.php?c=16
--
Maurice N
MVP Windows - Shell / User
--
"Victor" wrote
> Thanks for the prompt reply. I have no doubt there are plenty of hepful
> folks
> here.
> I have done the msconfig thing. Literally emptied out almost all programs
> in the startup except one or two which i knew to be core xp apps.
>
> I suspect its a devide driver issue ... but dont know which device
> driver...
> I used hijack this to figure out the stuff in start up and progressively
> emptied it out without any results.
>
> what else can i do?
>
> Victor
>
> "Maurice N ~ MVP" wrote:
>
>> There are plenty of helpful folks here, as well as in the XP groups,
>> where
>> this would be better addressed.
>> Mke very sure you have made really good checks for scumware.
>>
>> Next, take a close look at your Startup applications. You can use
>> MSCONFIG
>> to look at Startup programs, plus services added on by 3rd-party apps.
>> Now then, you have to cover all bases. Suggest you go to Doug Knox's
>> site
>> www.dougknox.com and get & use Startup Tracker 3. Make inventory of all
>> startups. Get rid of the un-needed startups & anything suspicious.
>>
>> I would recommend running CWShrederr, antivirus, etc in Safe Mode.
>>
>> More than likely its a device driver issue, startup app that's causing
>> your
>> problem.
>> --
>> Maurice N
>> MVP Windows - Shell / User
>> --

thanks... will try these out this evening and keep you posted...

"Maurice N ~ MVP" wrote:

> Begin step # 1: Turn off "reboot on error" setting for Windows.
>
> Go to My Computer, then select Properties. Select the "Advanced" TAB and in
> the Startup and Recovery section click the "Settings" button. At System
> Failure block,
> "Un-check" the "Automatically restart" line. Apply change, make clean exit.
>
> This will prevent a "reboot on error", and will also show (when you have
> Windows exception) the error code and its description.
>
> IF a STOP error occurs, write down its number and complete description and
> follow up on fixes.
>
> If Normal mode of Windows is still "re-booting" itself, reboot pc ...
> Try F8 selective startup of XP ---- choose the option with "boot logging".
> Hopefully you would then be able to see the contents of "Ntbtlog.txt", see
> which drivers and services may be the problem. The following is a snippet
> from XP's Help and Support: on Enable Boot Logging
>
> Starts while logging all the drivers and services that were loaded (or not
> loaded) by the system to a file.
>
> This file is called ntbtlog.txt and it is located in the %windir% directory.
>
>
> See Aumha.org's knowledge base on stop errors and keep it handy
> http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php
>
> Get and run Doug's Startup Tracker program (as per my last note). Research
> results. See what needs to be removed.
>
> If you get stuck in loading Windows in Normal mode, reboot into Safe Mode
> (tap F8 at bootup).
> Use XP's Event Viewer to get more detail on your "error".
> Start button/ Run / type
> eventvwr.msc<enter> --
> or Go to Control Panel / Performance and Maintenance/Administrative
> Tools >Event Viewer.
> Review the sections and look for Errors or Warnings that match the
> time the event occurred.
> Double click the line that is at issue---the information may give a
> clue on the issue.
>
> Also see Windows XP SP2 - FAQ & Best Practices" at Aumha.org
> http://forum.aumha.org/index.php?c=16
> --
> Maurice N
> MVP Windows - Shell / User
> --
> "Victor" wrote
> > Thanks for the prompt reply. I have no doubt there are plenty of hepful
> > folks
> > here.
> > I have done the msconfig thing. Literally emptied out almost all programs
> > in the startup except one or two which i knew to be core xp apps.
> >
> > I suspect its a devide driver issue ... but dont know which device
> > driver...
> > I used hijack this to figure out the stuff in start up and progressively
> > emptied it out without any results.
> >
> > what else can i do?
> >
> > Victor
> >
> > "Maurice N ~ MVP" wrote:
> >
> >> There are plenty of helpful folks here, as well as in the XP groups,
> >> where
> >> this would be better addressed.
> >> Mke very sure you have made really good checks for scumware.
> >>
> >> Next, take a close look at your Startup applications. You can use
> >> MSCONFIG
> >> to look at Startup programs, plus services added on by 3rd-party apps.
> >> Now then, you have to cover all bases. Suggest you go to Doug Knox's
> >> site
> >> www.dougknox.com and get & use Startup Tracker 3. Make inventory of all
> >> startups. Get rid of the un-needed startups & anything suspicious.
> >>
> >> I would recommend running CWShrederr, antivirus, etc in Safe Mode.
> >>
> >> More than likely its a device driver issue, startup app that's causing
> >> your
> >> problem.
> >> --
> >> Maurice N
> >> MVP Windows - Shell / User
> >> --
>
>
>