desktop icons slow to appear

I’m facing some critical problems with m y Windows XP system. Whenever I start my computer it takes about 3 minutes to reach the Welcome Screen. Then when I login with my username and password, it again takes few minutes to reach the desktop and then again 2 to 3 minutes to load the desktop icons completely.

This problem started all of a sudden couple of days ago. I don’t know what is wrong but as per troubleshooting I did Hard disk defragmentation, disc cleanup, deleted temporary files and cookies but still the problem persists.

Does anyone of you have come across this situation? Any idea what could have gone wrong? Please help.

Hi DREW,

To me it seems like your system is highly infected with Viruses or Malwares. Do you have any security suite installed on your computer? If not, install one updated and run deep scan.

Apart from this also check what all programs are listed in your Startup Program. Go to start > run > msconfig > startup and see what programs are loading at bootup.