Member Avatar for 2big

I'm sure a clean install of XP and everything will fix this, but I don't have the things I need to do that, so I have to find an alternative solution. Windows XP boots average speed, but right when I click on the profile I want to sign on to, the thing hangs at "loading personal settings..." or something along those lines, and takes a while to get to my desktop. By which point, the desktop takes a while to load, and it makes a sound like it's spinning my A:/ (floppy) drive, then it loads fully. Sorry for the poor description, I tried to give it step by step. I'm not on any network, it's just my home computer, and I've turned off the unnecessary programs in the msconfig startup tab, except for my antivirus programs and printer's components. My account is also not password protected, if that makes any difference. Thanks to anybody who can help.

Here's my general specs:

Windows XP Home 2002
768 MB DDR SD RAM
80 GB HD, 50 GBs free space
Mostly updated drivers

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Dani AI

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As observed, the 2.7 GB profile is the strongest single lead here: a very large profile (especially lots of files on the Desktop or in My Documents) commonly causes long “Loading personal settings…” delays because Explorer must enumerate icons and load per-user data. The other clues—heavy disk activity at login and audible A: activity—make an on-logon antivirus/removable-media scan or a misbehaving shell extension/startup component equally likely. ’s note about AV/floppy scans and ’s msconfig tip are both relevant; msconfig is useful but does not show everything that hooks into Explorer.

Quick, non-destructive triage to try first:

  • Inspect the profile size in Explorer: check C:\Documents and Settings\<username> and drill into Desktop, My Documents and Local Settings\AppData for very large files (PST/OST, ISO/VM images, installers, media). Move large items off the profile to another folder or drive.
  • Run Disk Cleanup and empty temporary folders (Local Settings\Temp and browser cache).
  • Check Event Viewer (Start → Run → eventvwr.msc) for errors stamped at the logon time—profile service, shell, or AV errors often show there.

Tools and targeted checks:

  • Use Autoruns to see everything that runs at logon (including Explorer shell extensions and icon overlays) and disable non‑Microsoft entries for testing. Autoruns
  • Use Process Monitor during a normal logon to capture which files/keys are being accessed and which process is stalling the sequence. Process Monitor
  • Boot to Safe Mode (F8). If logon is fast there, the culprit is almost certainly a third‑party service, shell extension, or startup item.

If a new local account logs in quickly, rebuild the profile: create a fresh account and copy only personal documents (do not copy hidden profile files like NTUSER.DAT or whole AppData blindly). Check AV settings and disable floppy/removable-media scans if A: is unused. Back up everything before renaming or deleting profile folders or editing the registry; if the profile looks corrupted and troubleshooting is uncomfortable, back up data and consider a repair/clean install.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

is you anti viri program setup to scan on startup and also is it set to scan the floppy drive

Member Avatar for orion

My account is also not password protected, if that makes any difference.

Well it's probally not a good idea to not have your account password protected...that is your first mistake.

If you can't do a reistall than you are may want to try a few things...

::Get from lavasoft to check for the odvious spyware/adaware.

::You may want to consider a firewall there are several to choose from.. when I was using windows I was pretty bias to

::Make SURE you have an the latest update to whatever anti-virus software you may be using.

Member Avatar for Monte

Start-Run-Msconfig then select what you dont want to start up ;)

Member Avatar for 2big

I've disabled various services and programs that I know I don't need through msconfig already, and that hasn't seemed to help. I also highly doubt it's anything virus related, as I update regularly and scan regularly. But I did notice in my system administration panel that the profile I'm logging on to says it's 2.7 GBs. I don't know much about how the profiles work, but that seems pretty damn big to me compared to the other two profiles on my computer. So possibly something with loading a big profile, or a corrupt profile? Does anybody know what I can do to solve that?

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