After I boot my computer and get the screen asking for my password the cursor turns to an arrow and the Desktop appears and then I can click on and run any desktop program, BUT, when I try and put the cursor on the start button the cursor changes to an Hourglass and I cannot get the menu to show. It stays this way for at least 10 full minutes. How can I stop this annoying habit? :-/

Something in your start up folder is causing your system to lockup... try going to START, RUN, type in MSCONFIG, then okay. Click on the start up tab, then remove the check mark out of any item that you do not need to run during system start up. This will not delete the program... it will just stop them from loading at start up. One of these programs is likely causing your lockups.

:D
EUREKA! I had the same problem. I finally watched the taskbar and my Norton antivirus had a red X on it for a long time. Once the network icon (I turned it on, not on by XP default) in the system tray, I could see once the network came on the Norton cleared and the computer would finally start up. Ya I had the hourglass in the task bar for a minute or so. ANYWAY THE FIX…. I have DSL and thus a LAN connection. Remove any dial-up ISP connections, reboot so only your LAN shows up in the network connections box and that…. Fixed my problem Hope this helps, Russ