How to find what is causing Windows 7 Desktop pause
Windows 7 64 bit.
Been in use approx 2 years since last rebuild. Recently, system is misbehaving. Specifically, on bootup, I get the login screen. I login, I get my desktop wallpapers (2 monitors). I get one widget (Rainlender2). It now pauses for approx 12 minutes. After that time, it continues fine, without errors/popups. It acts like the delay never happens. How do I identify the cause of the delay?
Solution 1:
You can use Process Monitor (from SysInternals/Microsoft) to track your boot time and provide a dump file of all system and file activity during the boot process.
Using this tool you should be able to see exactly what processes are causing this pause. Then using tools like AutoRuns (also from SysInternals/Microsoft) you can eradicate the suspect start up entries and see if that resolves the issue.
There are step-by-step instructions with pictures here: http://www.msigeek.com/6231/how-to-enable-system-boot-time-logging-using-process-monitor-tool
The gist of the instructions are:
Download Process Monitor: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
Run the program, go to Options and select Enable Boot Logging, then choose desired settings in the following dialog.
Reboot the computer. Take care to record when the pause begins with a time source synchronized with your computer clock.
Open Process Monitor again. It will prompt you to save the report generated during boot up. Following the save process, the report file will open and you can scan for what occurs around the time the pause begins.
Follow the clues.
Solution 2:
Here is a short list of things to start with
- Disable Startup Items
- Check the Event Log for Errors
- Run Security Essentials or HouseCall from TrendMicro
This should get you started, I'd disable all startup items and see if it persists first. Then move on to verifying information in the event log, then run a virus scan / malware scan. Maybe check out CC Cleaner, AdAware (or whatever the new variant is called) etc.