You can try clearing up your starup folder or do a selective startup. start>run>msconfig> enter. Click selective startup, uncheck process.ini, win.ini click OK and the computer will restart. Check also the amount of HD space you have and make sure u have at least 20% free space. Ran anti virus/anti spamware.

Try running Windows Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup as well

Message Edited by MountainBiker477 on 08-18-200608:15 PM

Norton just like Mcafee sercurity is a resourse hog and this is probably the main cause. I had Mcafee pre-installed on my new inspiron and it slowed my laptop down dramatically on startup. I uninstalled then installed AVG and Zonealarm, which are completely free to download and use. My startup is now quick and my computer is still protected.