http://www.tune-up.com/
30 day trial with undo features

http://www.ccleaner.com/
free with undo features

http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/
no undo feature and cleans thoroughly
make a system restore point before running this

spyware programs-

http://www.filehippo.com/download_superantispyware/

http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/

http://www.filehippo.com/download_spywareblaster/

http://www.filehippo.com/download_cwshredder/

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ewido/
30 day trial period

defrag with ms defrag

still having trouble after virus scanning?

http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
a complete log

post here after doing the above

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php

may take them a few days to get to you
and they may have added more programs to run before posting a hijack log

-cmpm (May 17, 2007, 10:39 AM)

cmpm,

I'm clean of malware -- or at least as clean as I am going to get.  I run NOD32 V. 2.7 AV, Counterspy 2 Antispyware, and I also am using SpywareBlaster to keep my list of bad sites updated.

I run Ccleaner as a general cleaner, as well as jv16 Powertools 2006 (licensed version) for registry monitoring/cleaning. And I run PerfectDisk by Raxco for defragging.  It's not malware that's affecting my PC. When the Windows startup slows down, it is usually a bit of a battle among two or more applications or services for the same resource or resources.  I try not to run anything that I suspect would have conflicts, but it is hard to know about some until it happens!

Microsoft's Bootvis was a good tool for analyzing what happens during startup, and when -- the sequence. It also allowed me to see when the longest delays occur, thus pointing out to me which app or apps are causing the sluggishness. XP supposedly incorporates some of the features of Bootvis into the OS, but you no longer get to see a clear picture of exactly what happens during the startup. I still have the latest version of Bootvis, but it doesn't work with dual processors, unfortunately. Sysinternal's Procmon - Process Monitor - also has a similar feature -- you can set it to run during a reboot and it will create a detailed log of all startup activity.  However on some systems it throws a "fatal error"; mine happens to be one of those systems.  :(

If you discount the Microsoft system startup items, I don't have a lot of applications in my startup configuration.  However every now and then I'll get a slowdown like this and it would be great to be able to see what is happening during startup.

As for the shutdown, my only issue is the Dr. Watson debugger. I already deleted the AeDebug registry key -- actually I deleted it a few times!  Occasionally a MS Hotfix restores it.  However even with the registry key deleted presently, it tries to initiate at shutdown, and if you don't see the dialog appear, it just keeps the system kind of frozen until you respond to the popup dialog. I need to find a more certain way of disabling it.

Thanks.

I want to create some video tutorials but not enough to come up with the $300 that TechSmith wants for Camtasia Studios. Plus, I have a feeling that Camtasia is a lot more than what I need.

This will not be a "daily use" application for me; quite the contrary, I will only need to use it once in a great while. I remember not too long ago seeing a reasonable freeware or shareware version of just such a tool, but of course now that I have decided that I need it, I can't find it nor remember exactly what it was called!

Any suggestions?

Thanks!