A little too late – but then all the more reason to ask.. Did you ever find a resolution to point # 3 ?
Takes 20+ minutes for my pc to come up with the list of applications installed on my computer in the “Add Remove Programs” option. For the generic advice folks: This is a brand new install of Windows XP and all I can say is that something got installed over time to make it so. Not sure what causes it but I ahve seen this before Any inputs will help Thomas.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/folderviews.htm
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1045990083

Regarding #3
Perhaps its time to clean your registry. I dont know if that would help. Perhaps it will, perhaps it wont but its always good to get rid of junk.

I’ve used on it many systems and been able to confirm what it found “software” wise when putting the memory stick on a hardware-based mem-testing unit.

1b) Consider downloading and running Sysinternal’s ProcessExplorer (freeware) while your system is running and you are doing your normal tasks. If your system begins to bog down, flip over to it (if you have a multi-display rig just keep it maximized on the other window) and see what process(s) are hogging all your CPU cycles (if any). That can help you get a name to track down.

1c) We haven’t discussed malware/spyware/virus activity. I’m sure it would be a long-shot with you, but stranger things have happened. I’m assuming you’ve been running your security scans and they have come back clean? My choices blogged: Claus Valca’s Top-10 Anti-Malware tools.

1d) I’ve not used Windows Live One Care, but I’ve noticed that when my systems go “on line” to check for Windows Automatic Updates, the update process can take a big chunk of processor CPU load. If your CPU is beefy (2GHz+) you might not notice, but if it is lowly it might “lock-up” until the update process has ended. You didn’t mention your system OS version, but I’m guessing it’s a flavor of XP. Try disabling Windows Automatic Updates for a bit. See if that helps.

2) I don’t use Flock, (preferring Windows Live Writer (freeware). But have been feeling HIGHLY aggrieved with Blogger. Ever since they set their “dual-login” (Blogger or Gmail) up, Firefox has refused to save or remember my password/account name no matter what I do. I suspect it was a page coding issue interacting with Firefox. Nothing I tried (and I tried everything!) could fix it. Anyway, Blogger just now changed their Blogger login page design again and the new method is retaining my user login name and password on my machine again (Firefox user!). So that problem seems to be history. Maybe it will have fixed yours as well. You will probably need to tell Flock/Firefox to remember it again after you log in this new method for the first time.

3) If you’ve got a sizable number of installed applications in your Windows Add/Remove list, it can take a very long time to open and build the list. I don’t think this is a system problem (per-se), but an implementation problem with XP/W2K. I’ve given up using Add/Remove in the Control Panel and now use either of these two mini-applications to accomplish the same thing in a few seconds:

Uninstall Tool 1.6.6
(freeware) — tiny, fast and brilliant! A must-have utility on my pc! Never look at MS’s Add/Remove again.

Safarp (freeware) — I used this one before finding Uninstall Tool. Also brilliant, tiny and fast!

Take your pick, and never look back!

4) That is weird. I say go with what mike suggests for lack of a better suggestion!

(extra issues that you posed) I generally don’t do much registry cleaning. Not that it doesn’t get “messy” from lots of installs/uninstalls over the years, but “defragging, cleaning and compressing” the registry just hasn’t netted me much noticeable pperformance gains over the years on the pc’s I’ve tried it on. That said, take a look into these applications: Like Kate suggests, I’ve used RegClean from time to time. (See warning about using on W2K/XP systems!) Others you may want to try are: CCleaner (freeware) — it does a ton of system cleaning including the registry. Used it faithfully for a long time with good results. Also ToniArt’s EasyCleaner (freeware). Dependable pc housecleaning application. Finally, there is RegSeeker (freeware) – another dependable registry/system cleaner.

–Best regards, Love your photography!

I’ve just gotten done dealing with a very similar issue with the freezing. I think you are on the right track with Windows One Care. My issue was with the Windows Update service (wuauclt.exe).

You might want to review my blog post.
Thawing an XP System

–Regards!
Claus

1) Click on Start -> My Computer
2) Click on Tools -> Folder Options
3) Click on View and then Reset All Folders
4) Close all explorer windows, and then reopen C: and it should be normal.

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