Windows7 is taking a long time to boot up for some reason. This started about a week ago. The only things I have done is to run cccleaner and I have had a windows update. I looked at startup under msconfig and the only thing unusual on the list is something called Installshield from software corp. I say unusual because I am not familiar with it. It may be normal.Any ideas on what may have happened?
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Edit:A little more info;
It takes about 3 times longer than it used to and it seems to stay on the dark screen with the windows logo (with the 3 little stars moving around)forever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InstallShield

Installshield is used by Microsoft. I'm not sure why it would be in msconfig, but other people have found it there.
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/38513-installshield-needed-startup.html

You can disable it if you want.

Try disabling everything in Startup and see what happens. If you have a laptop, I've been told you should keep your Synaptics touch pad drivers active. I have virtually nothing loading at startup except for my Carbonite backup service, my Malwarebytes Pro and my anti-virus. If it helps, then you can add things back until you find whatever is hanging you up.

I have no idea why Install Shield would be in startup either.

Tried disabling things except ones I know I need like realtek,avg and amd etc.Didnt help. Is it possible an external harddrive can cause this kind of problem?

You don't need Realtek or AMD running in the background or at startup.

I have never had a problem with my external hard drive causing startup slowdowns, but all you can do is disconnect it and see what happens.

I have no idea here, but how old is this computer? Could your main hard drive be struggling to do what it's supposed to? Inland or Jenny will know way more than I do because this sounds hardware related to me.

Is it possible that AVG isn't letting the boot progress until after it updates itself? -- and it can't update itself until after an internet connection is established?

I'm guessing Realtek is your sound? Or is it something else?


Try booting with the external drive disconnected and you'll have your answer.

Maybe Inland will have a better idea.

Yes,realtek is the sound. Ok I will disable everything and try it.You convinced me. I will do it tomorrow.

Disabling Realtek won't disable your sound. It's the console that comes with it and you can always bring that up if you need it.

When it's on the dark screen press ctrl-alt-delete and start taskmanager, have a look for a process called RunOnce. If it is there right - click it and select End Process and see if the desktop then loads straight away.

mj2c--Couldn't do it.The usb keyboard doesn't load until the welcome screen.What would we have learned had it worked?

That RunOnce is delaying your boot up:-) I have had the same problem in the past on Win7. Trying something along these lines may help. http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/208237-windows-7-start-up-problem.html

I have never heard of RunOnce before and I don't know what it means or how I would have fixed it.HOWEVER....I unplugged my external harddrive and everything is back to normal.Obviously there is a problem with it but I had no clues pointing that way. It seemed to work ok.(wasn't smoking!).I have not had good luck with external hd's,this isn't the first time I have had a problem. The first time was a Buffalo and this one is a WD.Thanks for the help everyone.

RunOnce is usually used by installers that need to reboot as part of their installation. There is a part of the Registry (also called RunOnce) which stores which programs need be run on boot up (but only for that first boot up) hence the name RunOnce.

So glad to hear it wasn't something worse than your EHD. I have a 320 GB Seagate EHD I've been using for 7 years without any problems. You might see if there is anything in the Support section of the WD website that might help you solve what the issue might be. It could even be a cable or a USB port. Try it in a different USB port on your computer to see if it does the same thing.

InstallShield is probably one of the most prominent installers out there, although not to the degree it was at one time. It is a perfectly legitimate program, though like most installers can be misused. Given that it is a fairly expensive suite, it is not likely that some hacker is using it rather than one of the free systems.

If InstallShield is loading on startup, it is probably trying to finish an update that required a reboot to unload a file or process that was running. If it keeps starting up with every boot, I would say that it is an update that has gone wrong and cannot complete. You could try a system restore from the last time that you were able to boot normally.

If you want to see all processes and programs that load on boot, you could use "Autoruns" from the Sysinternals Suite.