Thanks for the advise

i am using xp home

not too sure of boot process but i think basically the first thing i usually see is "go back" then i see the wondows xp sign welcome the my desktop. various things seem to be loading and in about three - five minutes its ready to use. today it took just over three minutes to boot

1. Defrag PC.=i did an analysis today and it said that i did not need to defrag the hardrive yet. so i di not de-frag. the report said that 76% of hd space is free
2. Check BIOS for Fast Boot options. = i do not know what this means please advise
3. Validate boot sequence i.e. is virus checking initiated at boot. = i think virus checking is done at start up. i use norton anti-virus professional and zone alarms
4. Validate Windows Boot using F8 key. = dont mean to sond completely clueless but i think you will need to further explain this for me


as for log in screen i do not really get one as i have only got one user account on my pc.

i hope this additional info helps