win 2k : hanging at startup

[ian campbell]

I have a T23 with Windows 2000.
Every time I do a cold boot I have to
log off exactly three times to see
the desktop. The first 2 times I hear
the startup souond and see the IBM
thinkpad background (the one with the map)
an hourglass pointer and then nothing else.

Any ideas?

thanks

[Bruce Guttman]

You may need to check for spyware. I had a registry key inserted by some piece of malware and had similar problems to you. Wound up rebuilding the computer from scratch (software wise, that is). I would recommend getting the latest copy of AdAware SE (it's free) and scanning your drive. Then see if Spybot or something like it will find something else.

If all else fails, you can do a Repair Setup from a Windows 2000 CD.

Hope this helps.

[Dominix]

You may have spyware or you may just have a crap app trying to startup.

Boot into safe mode and start msconfig

Under the Startup tab disable everything but your anitvirus and firewall (if you have these things)

Then if you have something like adaware, run it now

Reboot and post your results

[selvan777]

Aside from an anti-virus utility (I like Norton) I'd also recommend running these protective utilities: Lavasoft Ad-aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, PestPatrol, and a personal firewall called ZoneAlarm.