The computer had a bad malware infection a while back, which I believe compromised the OS beyond repair.
I used SuperAntiSpyware, AVG AntiSpyware, AVG Anti-Rootkit, AntiVir, online scanners like BitDefender, Dr. Web CureIt, Trend Micro Housecall, F-Secure, eset, etc. not to mention smaller utilities like SDfix, Combofix, SmitFraudFix, VundoFix, Dial-a-Fix, Rogue Remover, OTMoveIt, CCleaner, ATF Cleaner, etc. - you name it.
The computer always took 10-15 minutes to boot up all the time. You would see the desktop icons fairly quickly after boot-up, but then you could go take a shower and come back and still click and have to wait.
It really does need more memory, though. Only has 256MB right now.
Thanks for your replies. I’ll hold off on the BIOS one.
I recently heard about a new boot sector virus and it’s a nasty one. Sorry, I can’t recall any details but I think Norton has some info about it.
I know, that’s not very helpful but others might know more about it.
From what I heard about it’s very hard to get rid of and reformatting your drive won’t fix it.
Seriesly, I think that was the big problem to start with.