Intense Disk Activity After Startup

Whenever I start my (HP DV7-1240 Pavilion, WinVista Home Premium x64) laptop, there is a period of intense disk activity for 10 or more minutes. During that time, applications take a long time to start up (a minute to start Thunderbird, for instance). I have tried it with indexing turned off and that makes no difference. Any clue?

Welcome
Make a full antivirus scan
Download and make a full updated scan with malwarebytes
Then
Try a clean boot for an answer
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
It may be some scheduled maintenace. Check task scheduler.Just type those words in search

Oh, thanks for the quick response.

I run a full AV scan (with Avast!) fairly often, and updated and ran Malwarebytes a couple of days ago - the only problems reported were a couple of registry keys, one of which was for a legit program I use frequently. This is not a new problem, it has been happening for over a year - since it is not a freeze or a BSOD, it has only been an annoyance, but then, what could happen next?

For instance, about half of the time when I boot the computer, the sound fails to work, and that indicates other things are not working right - sometimes the sidebar gets mixed up, sometimes the wireless connection doesn't work, etc. All of these symptoms taken together are a "concern", but not yet a "crisis."

-- I will do the clean boot shortly, BUT I didn't understand what you meant about "search".

-- And, regarding "scheduled maintenance", this phenomenon occurs EVERY TIME I BOOT, whether it is first thing in the morning, or any other time, such as at any time during the day. For example, I tested the behavior by shutting down repeatedly and booting up, then waiting for activity to cease, and doing it again. The 10+ minutes of intense disk activity happened every time. Task Manager does not give me any clue - no significant processor load or network traffic. Of course, if you meant "scheduled to occur at startup", I see what you mean, but ... what would it be and why would it take so **** long? That is like centuries of human time!

Sorry that I was not clear. In case you did not know how to bring up task scheduler, jut type "task scheduler" in search.

First of all, let me say thanks for your assistance. It is nice to know there is help for the helpless!

Well, I did the clean boot, and had the same symptom - intense disk activity for over 10 minutes, so I decided to abandon that tactic and did a normal boot. When I did that, the Synaptics trackpad software (and a few other things) had changed behavior - I could no longer scroll a window by dragging my finger down the right side of the trackpad. When I went to the Control Panel Mouse interface, an advisory message was displayed saying I had to uninstall the Synaptics driver. At first I canceled that, and did get the mouse interface, but the controls to enable the scrolling function did not work. In fact, they were enabled, I could click on them, they would momentarily change, and then the checkbox would clear (in 0.1 second or so - very quickly). One other symptom is that the size selection for the icons on the control panel (Classic view) had changed to large icons (I usually have it set to medium icons). Eventually I went thru with the uninstall, and now the Synaptics trackpad control interface is missing from the Mouse control panel (it presented as a tab).

I tried to update the trackpad driver, but it is apparently up-to-date. I am thinking of rolling it back, then updating it again. But that is a separate problem...

All the startup items look normal. I looked up a few I didn't recognize, and am satisfied that they are legit. As I said, this has been like this since last year, so I am not sure what to try next...

Any more ideas?

Disconnect from the net. Dont turn off. Disconnect!

What did you find in the task scheduler using boot as a schedule?

It's a wireless connection. So you want me to just select "Disconnect" from the Network and Sharing Center?

And I'm sorry - this time I will look at the task scheduler contents, although i found it rather confusing...

Yes just disconnect. But be sure that you know how to reconnect. We do not want bigger problems than we have.
Go to task scheduler bring down the tree and then just look at when tasks are scheduled
It is my guess that some are scheduled at boot.

If you need help with scheduler, after you try I will give you a step by step explanation.

Me Bad
You can use auto runs to see start up items. Me Bad and sorry
Autoruns for Windows

Well, per autoruns.exe, the only thing in the StartupPrograms category is rdpc, and it is deactivated. Nothing in Boot Execute.

?

Thats not right, go back to the task scheduler idea. Take one step at a time. Right down exactly what you did. When you get to a problem tell me exactly what you did and I will give you the next step. Scheduler will tell you what is scheduled to run at boot

OK. Well, I clicked on Start and searched for Task Scheduler then hit Enter. The Task Scheduler window opened, and referring to earlier advice from you - "What did you find in the task scheduler using boot as a schedule?" - I searched for "boot" anywhere and everywhere and did not find it. What next?

Perhaps the best way is if I post the default list. Then we can disable the ones you do not want from task scheduler.

OK. I finally did a normal reboot and brought up the task scheduler at earliest opportunity (about 3 minutes after boot). I looked at the list of "Active Tasks" and the list of running tasks (Action --> Display all running tasks: HotStart User Agent; SystemSounds Service - MS PlaySoundService Class; System Task - Certificate Services Client Task Handler; TMM - Transient Multi-Monitor Manager; UserTask - Certificate Services Client Task Handler).

I was surprised that the lists were different, but nothing looks suspicious...

More in the morning.

Ok this is the easy way.

When you boot and have the problem, bring up task scheduler.
In the left panel, you will see , list all running tasks. Check that and give me the list

Edit: LOL you beat me to it.

List of scheduled activites
System Restore
The "System Restore" scheduled task is the most likely culprit when you notice your machine going into a frenzy of disk grinding for around 10 minutes once or twice a day.

RAC: The RacAgent Task. This task is scheduled to run every hour after you start the compter and at boot

Windows Defender has a daily scheduled scan that grinds ugly on the harddisk

ReadyBoost, Superfetch, Windows Search,

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER.

Be sure to read this article and the articles that are listed at the bottom.
I think this is the answer to your question
Beginners Guides: Stopping Vista From Thrashing Hard Disks to Death - PCSTATS.com

Working thru the article I got to the part about Restore Points, and it hangs with the "Available Disks" display saying "Searching..." See attachment. It stays this way forever (1/2 hour, so far...).

Edit - I just went back and investigated what restore points I have (should have some from Windows Update) and there are none.

No points
Means
You or some maintenance program that you have formatted the drive with the points
You do not have enough space
They have been deleted
They were never made
It was turned off
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66971-system-restore.html
or
SR needs repair
Lets test.
Make a point now.
Make sure that it is actually there
Wait 24 hours see if it is still there
You should have at least one point
There is software that will delete the points, usually connected with AntiVirus maintenance.

Well, since it always says "Searching..." I can't select a drive, and therefore the Create button never goes active!

Edit: Would that mean that SR is broken, or I have deactivated something it needs?

When I say broken, maybe corrupted is a better word or you may have disabled it.

Try this
If errors are found, run 3 or 4 times
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html
and
Make sure it is not turned off, per the tutorial that I posted.