I have an in depth problem. I'm using a small laptop that I upgraded from 256Mb to 512mb of ram. I am running some pretty large programs (adobe creative suite) but my system more than meets their requirements.
I recently have tried Mcaffe Virus Scan Enterprise, and Avast as anti-virus' (turned up nothing).
I use spybot, and ad-aware routinely (they turn up nothing) and I recently cleaned my registry. I have 26 Gb free space out of 40 on my hard drive. My drive has also been recently defraged.
The Problem: On startup (when I cleaned my registry I also cleaned up my start menu) everything boots up quickly. Everything meaning, the OS the anti-virus, and whatever else boots on startup (not much anymore). However, when I try to open a program, It can take up to five mintues to open. When I check out my processes... I have 99% system idle... and yet... no program launch. This is true with browser, adobe programs, macromedia, office. Eventually... the program will launch and about 10 minutes later... the problem goes away and things will launch fine.
2nd problem My little laptop has taken to intermittenly rebooting. No warning, no lag, no blue screen of depth... just... reboots. Of course I thought virus of some kind, but I have analyzed the processes, run 2 different anti-virus's and everything I do says my computer is clean as a whistle... what gives?

I would assume this program is some kind of spyware/startup task but you seem to have this covered. Just to make sure can you download HijeckThis from this site and post the log it gives you. That should help us ensure your PC is as clean as it suggests.

You said you tried 2 anti-virus programs. You're not running them both at the same time are you?

Are you 100% sure the RAM is OK? Do you system properties report the correct amount of RAM? Maybe you should try to monitor the RAM/virtual memory to see if anything is up there (Cacheman from http://www.outertech.com/ is a good one).

Final question - when the program is loading, is what is the level of hard drive activity - low, medium or high?

Scan your system files!

To do this click start -> run -> type "sfc /scannow" (without quotes) and press enter.

This command works for XP & 2000. If you have 98 run just "sfc"

You'll probably have to insert your windows cd at some point to provide replacement files for any corrupt files found.

Let us know how this went!

I am happy ( yet frustrated) to report:

My Scan Files turned out to be clean as a whistle, NO corrupted files.

I am NOT running 2 anti-V's I was previously running Mcaffe, then changed to Avast. Was also running Zone alarm, but removed it to see if that fixed the problem, it didn't

I tried running two separate memory diagnostic tests (windows version and memtest) but failed to get both to boot from CD even though I made sure CD drive booted first in BIOS (go firgure - not sure what's up with that)

When the program do decide to finally launch, they max out at about 54% cpu usage

the following is my hijack this log NOTE: I don't know how to read this but FYI
Spybot and avast should be the only programs booting on start up. I use Adobe creative suite regularly as well as macromedia products.

Also NOTE: I did notice that one of the svchost.exe processes are using more memory than explorer.exe, and at some points the cpu usage for that file skyrockets and maxes out... but most of the time it's at 0.

What is my next plan of action?

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 11:58:44 PM, on 10/4/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\EPSON\EBAPI\SAgent2.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\slserv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wltrysvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\bcmwltry.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Alex\Desktop\hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.averatec.com
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Connection Wizard,ShellNext = http://www.averatec.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyServer = 127.0.0.1:8118
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {0A87E45F-537A-40B4-B812-E2544C21A09F} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEToolbarHelper Class - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Adobe PDF - {47833539-D0C5-4125-9FA8-0819E2EAAC93} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O4 - HKLM\.. \Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k
O4 - HKLM\.. \Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKCU\.. \Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECaptureSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe (file missing)
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.averatec.com
O16 - DPF: {30528230-99F7-4BB4-88D8-FA1D4F56A2AB} - http://us.dl1.yimg.com/download.yaho...st20040510.cab
O16 - DPF: {62475759-9E84-458E-A1AB-5D2C442ADFDE} - http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52/...eInstaller.exe
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: avast! IAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: EPSON Printer Status Agent2 (EPSONStatusAgent2) - SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION - C:\Program Files\Common Files\EPSON\EBAPI\SAgent2.exe
O23 - Service: Macromedia Licensing Service - Macromedia - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Macromedia Shared\Service\Macromedia Licensing.exe
O23 - Service: Remote Packet Capture Protocol v.0 (experimental) (rpcapd) - Unknown owner - %ProgramFiles%\WinPcap\rpcapd.exe" -d -f "%ProgramFiles%\WinPcap\rpcapd.ini (file missing)
O23 - Service: SmartLinkService (SLService) - - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\slserv.exe
O23 - Service: Tenebril antispyware satellite (TNBRLDS) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\GhostSurf 2005\DeleteSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: WLTRYSVC - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\System32\wltrysvc.exe

Hi,
This is just a thought; have you cleaned out all your junk files lately? Your temp files? There are instances where the temp folders became so filled up, that XP will not do much of anything anymore.
If you don't have a good cleaner, (not referring to Disk Cleanup), then here is one of the best:

http://www.ccleaner.com

It cleans out the Registry, junk files, clipboad, cookies (which you can set to save those you want to save), history, URL's, other programs temp folders, etc.
Best wishes,
fredg

How big is your swap file size?

Rclick my computer -> properties > advanced -> Performance options.

I use ccleaner for all of my registry cleaing and file cleaning already, but thanks for the tip.

If swap files size is what I think it is, it's set at the recommened 718Mb

I really appreciate your guys' help... you can see why I'm so frustrated.

Just as a test, try disabling your network interfaces temporarily. Is there any increase in speed. DNS problems can cause programs to dramatically slow down, but it is usuallly network dependent programs.

Worth a try whilst the cogs turn!

I would look at a few things. It may sound odd but try a different mouse or a keyboard. It could also be the hard drive.