BrEg:
Something dawned on me...
Have you tried clearing out your pre-fetch directory?
XP has a feature(?) that will offset later loading times of frequently used applications to the boot-up process.
Basically, it's caching frequently used programs so that starting up some programs appears instantaneous.
The problem with this is that XP doesn't make an accurate assumption of frequency of use on a fairly green system because no other programs have been used for purposes of comparison. Sometimes it inaccurately labels certain files such as install files as frequently used, and attempts to place them in this cache. I don't believe the pre-fetch cache is managed by the OS, so it will grow over time until it reaches the threshold defined by XP.
After you get everything installed that you want installed, go to this directory, kill everything in it, and re-time your boot-up benchmark... I know in the past that has occasionally improved my boot-up times:
%WindowsRoot%\Prefetch
(i.e. C:\Windows\Prefetch )
Something dawned on me...
Have you tried clearing out your pre-fetch directory?
XP has a feature(?) that will offset later loading times of frequently used applications to the boot-up process.
Basically, it's caching frequently used programs so that starting up some programs appears instantaneous.
The problem with this is that XP doesn't make an accurate assumption of frequency of use on a fairly green system because no other programs have been used for purposes of comparison. Sometimes it inaccurately labels certain files such as install files as frequently used, and attempts to place them in this cache. I don't believe the pre-fetch cache is managed by the OS, so it will grow over time until it reaches the threshold defined by XP.
After you get everything installed that you want installed, go to this directory, kill everything in it, and re-time your boot-up benchmark... I know in the past that has occasionally improved my boot-up times:
%WindowsRoot%\Prefetch
(i.e. C:\Windows\Prefetch )