BleepingComputer.com: Extremely Slow At Startup

Hi,
I have been having trouble with my computer for awhile now. I posted in hijack this forum and I have a clean log, so they thought maybe you could help me.
My computer is extremely slow at startup...takes probably 15 minutes to get on internet, where it used to take 30 seconds or less. If I run any scans it takes forever to complete...for example, my Norton scan takes MORE than 24 hours to complete. I scan in safe mode and it works perfectly,(scans in less than one hour) but when I reboot, Norton says that I have not scanned my computer in x amount of days, when actually I just did one.
Once I finally get on the internet, it will take me from site to site fairly quickly, but to get to that point, I have usually been working at it for 20 minutes. It often freezes unexpectedly.....in fact while I was typing this, it froze and I had to wait 5 minutes to finish my sentence! I have used ATF Cleaner, CCleaner, defragged, and scanned with various anti-virus, anti-spyware. What else can I do? I'm thinking that I may have to wipe my computer clean and start over! (of course I have no idea how to do that if I needed to) Any ideas about what could cause my computer to do this? It used to work like a charm. My kids could have downloaded something I suppose the messed it up, but I can't think of anything that I downloaded taht may have caused this. Anyway, thanks for reading this, and I'd appreciate any help.

How much ram does your computer have? This sounds like you dont have enough. Right click my computer and click on properties at the bottom, it will show you how much ram you have, reallly you should have 512mb minimum

Hi,
I checked and I do have 512mb. I was browsing internet and came across something called XPMedic that says it will clean my registry.....have you heard of it, and would you recommend I try it? (I have windows xp)
Thanks

Avoid registry cleaners like the plague, unless you are very knowledgeable about your operating system, your applications, and the files for both; these often will delete necessary files with the best of intentions, and moreover, you do not get much "bang for the buck" when you do use cleaners.
ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY if you do choose to use one.

Use Windows' Task Manager to see what applications you have running when these slowdowns occur. From the fact that things work better in Safe Mode, it seems likely that you have a lot of applications running in the background, or too many applications open on your screen at the same time.
You can use the BC StartupList (tabbed at the top of these pages) to determine if something is needed, optional, or should be killed.

Regards,
John

Thanks...I'll look at BC Startuplist and see what I can do. Thanks for the advice about the registry cleaners...I'm glad I didn't do it.