Any way of finding a new startup process?

[Dogg Thang]

I have Windows 7 on my laptop. Just in the last few days, when starting up, it spends ages on the Welcome screen before going to desktop. I can only assume there is something new going on in there but I can't for the life of me think of anything I've installed or change, bar the usual regular updates.

But there must be, mustn't there?

Any way of finding what process is new or has just been activated over the last few days?

[egparadigm]

I don't know if this would actually be happening during the Welcome screen, but the programs that start up with Windows can be controlled with msconfig. Follow the instructions here:

http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msconfig_win7.html

Just make sure that when you disable something, you know for sure you don't need it!

[Dogg Thang]

Thanks! I'll have a play around with what processes are happening there.

[demon9k]

Slow login times can sometimes be a network device timing out. Got any disconnected network drives?

[Brad]

There's a free app called startup inspector that I use when diagnosing friends' PCs

[abigsmurf]

See what services are being started, look at the startup folder in your start menu, look at the applications being loaded at starts (Java and adobe are a pain in the arse for adding HDD thrashing to startup).

Check out the startup stuff in regedit (can't remember the exact path but it's something like HKLM > software > Microsoft > Windows > Current Version > Run / run once)

[Ginger Tosser]

It's Windows 7 - probably just doing it's usual I'm crap at loading a profile thing. It happens far too often on my work PC.

[Ian(not Ian)]

Type msconfig into your startbar's command line.
Msconfig shows and allows you to disable startup processes.

[k0pp0]

And always remember to set your boot options to run with the correct number of CPU's..

open msconfig, click on the boot tab, then the advanced button and it's under number of processors - select the number you have.

[Dogg Thang]

Thanks for all the advice, all. Took me a while to figure out what the problem was but it seems that Demon9k got it spot on -

Slow login times can sometimes be a network device timing out. Got any disconnected network drives?

Not quite sure what the problem is but it's probably associated with an earlier problem of losing connection after hibernation. This was on startup though and didn't realise I was having any network problems because it was connecting. But, what I noticed was that, when it has a slow Welcome screen, it seems to take much, much longer to connect to the network than when the Welcome screen passes quickly.

So I'm still not quite sure exactly what the connection problem is but have diagnosed the slow Welcome screen and it doesn't seem like it's actually down to anything I need to remove or a major problem. Thanks for all the help. It is always most appreciated.

[Hohum]

Checked event viewer? (nobody seems to do this despite a wealth of information there... hence why I ask.)