BleepingComputer.com: Why is Explorer so busy with TcpIP DHCP settings?

Hello -

For months now the disk drive has been ..twitching.. every few seconds. Of late things have gotten worse with the "twitch" now going on for minutes during boot and holding things up left and right.

I've run MalwareBytes, GMER, Panda, TrendMicro's HouseCall, SuperANTISpyware, Spybot, Ad-Aware.. and all say the system is clean.

I download SysInternal's Process Monitor and look to see what's going on. And I find this (please excuse the block paste):

10:57:42.1962222 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegOpenKey HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F} SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:57:42.1962664 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F}\EnableDHCP SUCCESS Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1
10:57:42.1962862 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F}\LeaseObtainedTime SUCCESS Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1306452768
10:57:42.1963063 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F}\LeaseTerminatesTime SUCCESS Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1306536938
10:57:42.1963270 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F}\DhcpServer SUCCESS Type: REG_SZ, Length: 24, Data: 192.168.1.1
10:57:42.1963477 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F}\DhcpServer SUCCESS Type: REG_SZ, Length: 24, Data: 192.168.1.1
10:57:42.1963784 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegCloseKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F} SUCCESS
10:57:42.1964348 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegOpenKey HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F} SUCCESS Desired Access: Query Value
10:57:42.1964742 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F}\AddressType SUCCESS Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 0
10:57:42.1965044 PM Explorer.EXE 1404 RegCloseKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{B0174417-F531-45B7-8B61-965F8C99909F} SUCCESS

Every few seconds this block of information is repeated. The only thing that changes is the time.

Why is Explorer so interested in DHCP? It opens, it reads, it closes... time after time after time.

It looks like the DHCP link is timing out?

Suggestions for fixing this would be appreciated.