startup problem!

[icedgreentea]

Hi all. I'm not sure if my problem is strictly an OS problem but when my thinkpad is starting up and comes to the desktop loading part, there are several failure to start windows that pop up with the names of certain programs. In the window, it says something like "this program failed to initialize" followed by a string of numbers (looks like a memory address?). Frankly, I'm a little alarmed by this because this is my first encounter with software problems for my TP. Is there anyway for me to more thoroughly diagnose this problem and solve it?

[sugo]

I would suggest starting with a virus check on the hard drive.

[icedgreentea]

tried that... unless my AVG isn't as reliable as a paid anti-virus program, there's no abnormalities that it can pick up

[sugo]

In order to tell for sure whether it's software or hardware, you can try to restore HDD to factory image.

Of course, you will need to backup your data first.

[Kyocera]

Try googling on line virus scanners like Kaspersky,

run PC dr.,

check event viewer in windows > admin tools,

Try booting into safe mode, run spyware scanner/avg.

Try a diagnostic startup, msconfig, general, diagnostic startup.

System restore.

I usually do these things before restoring to factory, if i'm feeling really lazy, and there is not a lot of data on the machine to save, i just go for the factory restore, saves time, but you ultimately have to put everything back the way you like it. Good luck.

[icedgreentea]

when i go to the diagnostic startup, what should i be looking to do because there's Launch System Restore and Expand File options. which one should i pick?[/quote]

[Kyocera]

if you go to Start > run > msconfig > the first tab gives you choices, choose diagnostic startup and reboot, this will only load about 15 or so processes. If it loads OK then you need to start checking what is loading at startup and taking so much time. Open the processes window and watch what is happening.