Windows xp sp3 slow to load after re-creation of icon cache

[Ritesh_4]

Hello
I have recently deleted my icon cache and recreated using some steps found from a tutorial, but I've noticed that from then on, my windows takes a long time to load completely, that it from the welcome screen to the final loading process.
When I log in, it takes a long time to start populating the taskbar list and also allow me access to the start menu.

Anyone knows how to solve this? I've tried again clearing my registry files and repairing the iconcache using TuneUp Utilities, but still the same. If however I do not login, that is I switch on and allow windows to stay on the welcome screen for about 10mins then it loads quickly. But I cannot everyday wait for 10minutes before logging in to the system...

[BlackFetus]

..hi there!..try to repair your OS..if the issue still continues then reformat your pc but don't forget to back up all your datas!..i hope it helps!..^_^..

[Ritesh_4]

is there no other solution which can help me? by repair the OS u mean that boot from CD and then choose repair option?

[gerbil]

Gee, these speed tweaks. First thing you should do is re-enter Tuneup Utilities, tap the Restore button and revert everything you did with that pgm. Then remove it.
Deleted your iconcache.db? It's not something I have ever felt the need to do... did you increase this value also :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer:: Max Cached Icons? I see there are guides to do just that so your desktop refreshes faster...[??], and if you check more than one site on that subject then it rapidly becomes clear that few of them have a clue what they are talking about, or even bothered to check. Sheesh.
Anyway. Some say the value represents cache size in KB, some that it is a DWORD value, others a REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ... some say that it is the amount of RAM that caches icons. Oh dear...
Your iconcache.db should rebuild as your system uses icons. It is basically a file with a list of icons used, referenced by filename, entrypoint, with below a database of actual icon binary data.
My machine does not have that key value name. I see there are 6MB of icons in my cache, sometimes I have seen the icons ripple and change in sequence, sometimes an incorrect icon appears. Am I bothered by that? Not at all.... they come back in correct form soon enough. I could admit that my world doesn't turn on icons.
You may have a useful System Restore point. Try it.
Not being nasty, but perhaps a more useful tweak would be to clean up by removing unused files in your C: drive, and then to defragment it. Finally, you can leave your machine running untouched and idle for an hour... after 20 mins or so XP will start to organise your files in C: according to the frequency of their use. That is handy. Really.

[Ritesh_4]

Did not change any registry values etc, first I had just deleted the iconcache.db as mentioned in a forum I had browsed and restarted the pc, so that new iconcache file is created. But from there on, the taskbar freezes for a long time each time I log in to Windows, and when I installed tuneup utilities I found an option to repair the iconcache, so i gave it a try in the hope of making the desktop load faster but however still the same issue. Like stated previously, if I leave the pc on the welcome/login screen for about 5-10min then when I login the taskbar no longer freezes and loads very quickly, but as I said also that I cannot everyday wait for at least 5min before logging in.
As for cleaning unused files I do that almost every week, while Diskeeper tool is installed and automatically defragments all my hard drives.
Am still looking for a solution other than repair windows itself...

[gerbil]

Ok. Perhaps it is time to get Process Monitor from Winternals [old Systernals team]. Set it to boot log from startup [under Options]. When you finally gain access to it after a fresh start, stop the logging. You will have a huge activity log, so the filter will come in handy. Basically, you should be looking for large time intervals in the Relative Time column as an indication of what is stalling the login process. Use the task icons to isolate each activity in turn. Try checking services and drivers via the filter - set it to include System as a Process Name, and Path to end with [or include] .sys
You can also use the filter to simplify checking for time gaps, or long durations. A freeze will originate with a driver, service or file taking a long time to load or run. I doubt if it would result from a registry access.
Something will show up.

[Ritesh_4]

Ok, so I ran ProcessMonitor, and when I view the log for the boot operation, I find many PATH NOT FOUND results, and most of them are DLL files, e.g. C:\WINDOWS\system32\en\Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls\Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls.DLL
and some EXEs as well. And most of them are ran at the same time, e.g. 10:01:30.1....,10.01.30.2....., whereby only matter of milliseconds of exection it seems between each process

What next? Are these causing my system to load slowly?

[gerbil]

Those C:\WINDOWS\system32\en\... checks are by csrss.exe?, and only take a few tenths of a mSec each? Then I would not worry about them , esp if no error is being generated. They must be mentioned in some threads that csrss is organising, but are not actually being called [used].
You might try a filter something like Duration is more than .01 then Include.

[Ritesh_4]

yes they are csrss.exe checks, and the list is composed mostly of them

[gerbil]

When an application is run its processes can be split sometimes into threads which run concurrently; csrss is the susbsystem which manages those threads. All I can say is that some application which has been started is causing csrss to check those files in system32\en, but is not actually using them else I suspect an error message would be generated. With only this browser open my machine does not log any such Path Not Found entries in PM; with one particular data streamer it does log a few every couple of minutes. But no error msg results... everything works. So i could suspect that it is not these that is your problem. Check the sections in Event Viewer to see if any catastrophic errors are reported [rclick any Error or Warning line and open properties].
You might try temporarily stopping your non-system startups via msconfig, incl your AV service and firewall, see if that makes a difference to your startup times.