{WindowsXp Group} What the heck is going on?!

Hopefully I can explain this problem so you can understand
it.
Background information:  I have a Dell Dimension 8300, 3.0
GHz, 2GB
RAM, 5GB free on primary hard drive, Nvidia GeForce 6600 OC
256MB,
Norton AntiVirus 2005, and a bunch of other software.  I'm
running
Windows XP Pro SP2 with five user accounts (my wife and I
are admins,
the kids are limited).  We typically leave the PC on 24/7
with reboots
approximately once a week.  Okay, enough rambling.

Here's the problem:  Occasionally, I will reboot the PC, and
when I
click my account to log in, the process will take 1-2 hours
(instead
of 1-2 minutes), all the while assuring me that Windows is
loading my
settings.  When my desktop finally appears, all of my icons
have been
stacked together into one big pile on the left side of the
screen.  In
addition, many files that I previously deleted have been
magically
restored to my primary hard drive, including a 4GB
"Downloads"
subfolder in my "My Documents" folder that I
banished to my secondary
hard drive MONTHS ago.  Deleted desktop icons have been
resurrected
and now haunt the screenspace amidst newer icons that I just
created
the day before.  Cats and dogs are living together.  Is this
the end
of the world?  What manner of sorcery has infected my PC? 
Does anyone
have any idea what I'm raving about?

There has been another phenomenon occurring that I initially
thought
was related, and it probably is.  Intermittently, when my
wife would
log out, it would take an unusually long amount of time
(minutes, not
hours) to finally reach the "Windows is logging
out" screen, but then
suddenly the monitor would go black, and the main login
screen would
never appear.  This would force us to cycle power, and more
often than
not (but not 100% of the time), when I logged in to my
account again
after this experience, Windows would proceed to raise all
kinds of
files from the dead again.  However, for the first time just
today, my
wife wasn't even logged in, but when *I* logged out,
restarted the PC,
and logged in again...BAM!  All my hours of desktop icon
organization
down the drain.

After having experienced this phenomenon half-a-dozen times
now, and
having killed that zombie "Downloads" folder over
and over again, I'm
fingering my 20-gauge shotgun and eyeballing the CPU
thinking, "This
might be the only solution."  Can anyone help me before
I blow away my
Dell Dimension 8300??

Thanks in advance,
Mike


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Well...if I was you.  I would boot into safe mode and I
would run
spybot and an anti-virus program to see if anything is
there.  The
reason I say safe mode is because the OS won't load any
software but
Windows itself.  If this is not the reason and you don't
find
anything.  You could have corrupted profiles that is causing
the time
it takes to log in.  My best guess is spyware though. 
Spyware will
make your computer pretty come to a dead hault...hope this
helps!  It
is hard to fix a computer though by words without looking at
it... 




On Aug 6, 1:50 pm, DonutMan <mike_...yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hopefully I can explain this problem so you can
understand it.
> Background information:  I have a Dell Dimension 8300,
3.0 GHz, 2GB
> RAM, 5GB free on primary hard drive, Nvidia GeForce
6600 OC 256MB,
> Norton AntiVirus 2005, and a bunch of other software. 
I'm running
> Windows XP Pro SP2 with five user accounts (my wife and
I are admins,
> the kids are limited).  We typically leave the PC on
24/7 with reboots
> approximately once a week.  Okay, enough rambling.
>
> Here's the problem:  Occasionally, I will reboot the
PC, and when I
> click my account to log in, the process will take 1-2
hours (instead
> of 1-2 minutes), all the while assuring me that Windows
is loading my
> settings.  When my desktop finally appears, all of my
icons have been
> stacked together into one big pile on the left side of
the screen.  In
> addition, many files that I previously deleted have
been magically
> restored to my primary hard drive, including a 4GB
"Downloads"
> subfolder in my "My Documents" folder that I
banished to my secondary
> hard drive MONTHS ago.  Deleted desktop icons have been
resurrected
> and now haunt the screenspace amidst newer icons that I
just created
> the day before.  Cats and dogs are living together.  Is
this the end
> of the world?  What manner of sorcery has infected my
PC?  Does anyone
> have any idea what I'm raving about?
>
> There has been another phenomenon occurring that I
initially thought
> was related, and it probably is.  Intermittently, when
my wife would
> log out, it would take an unusually long amount of time
(minutes, not
> hours) to finally reach the "Windows is logging
out" screen, but then
> suddenly the monitor would go black, and the main login
screen would
> never appear.  This would force us to cycle power, and
more often than
> not (but not 100% of the time), when I logged in to my
account again
> after this experience, Windows would proceed to raise
all kinds of
> files from the dead again.  However, for the first time
just today, my
> wife wasn't even logged in, but when *I* logged out,
restarted the PC,
> and logged in again...BAM!  All my hours of desktop
icon organization
> down the drain.
>
> After having experienced this phenomenon half-a-dozen
times now, and
> having killed that zombie "Downloads" folder
over and over again, I'm
> fingering my 20-gauge shotgun and eyeballing the CPU
thinking, "This
> might be the only solution."  Can anyone help me
before I blow away my
> Dell Dimension 8300??
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mike


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