Verified answer

Because you have a ton of crap loading at startup and it hasnt fully loaded yet. Disable some of it from running at startup.

Several possibilities:

1. You have a lot of stuff all trying to start up at once.

2. Microsoft Updates is running its periodic scan (it always does on a boot up) and is sucking up a lot of resources.

3. Another (or several other) programs are also running their wakeup exercises. Norton/Symantec LiveUpdate is notorious for this.

One suggestion would be to go through MSConfig and decide what you don't absolutely need running all the time (this is generally a good idea).

Another is to not try to do anything for a while after powering up. Why not turn on and log into your machine, then go get dressed, etc. and let it finish what it has to do before you need it?

Now a note on MSConfig:

1.Click on the Start->Run (Windows->Run in Vista) menu item.

2.In the Run text box, type in msconfig, then press Enter.

3.In MsConfig, click the Startup tab.

4.See if there are a entries you don't need. If so, clear the checkbox next to their names. Do NOT do this to programs you don't recognize, especially those at the top of the list.

5.Click OK.

6.Accept the reboot option.

On the next boot up you will get a message about your configuration having changed. In fact, if you just click OK, you'll get this message after every reboot, however, if you click the checkbox before clicking OK, the message won't come up again unless and until you make another msconfig change.

Note that, if needs be, those changes can be reversed the same way they were made: The entries are not deleted, just deactivated.

Hope that helps.