Member Avatar for wired325i

I have a problem on a PC running Win XP Home Edition. Internet Expolrer 7.0 runs fine for the main user but VERY SLOW for the second one to the point of SOMETIMES timing out. They are both administrator accounts. The problem started soon after upgrade from IE-6. I reverted back to IE-6 and still have the same problem. I've run AdAware, Spybot Search/Destroy, Systemworks "One Button Checkup", and Win Startup Inspector with no change to the problem. I even added another account and that one also is slow. What else can I try?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Jim

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Several people in this thread have already tried anti‑malware scans, rolling IE back and trimming add‑ons (see , and ), and one member reported a full reinstall as a last resort (). Because the main admin profile runs fine while secondary profiles stall, the most likely remaining causes are profile‑specific: a damaged Default User template, wrong profile folder permissions, per‑user registry or startup entries, or references to unreachable network resources.

Suggested diagnostics and fixes (practical, profile‑level checks):

  1. Default User/template: when multiple newly created accounts inherit the same problem, the system Default User profile is a prime suspect. From an admin session, the Default User folder can be renamed (for example C:\Documents and Settings\Default User → Default User.old) so Windows generates a fresh template when a new account is created. Back up any custom data first.

  2. Profile ACLs and temp/cache paths: confirm the affected profile folder grants Full Control to that user (and Administrators). Incorrect permissions often make IE wait while trying to write Temporary Internet Files or the Temp folder.

  3. Per‑user startup and traces: use Sysinternals Autoruns to compare startup items between the working and slow accounts, and use Process Monitor (ProcMon) to capture iexplore.exe file/registry operations. Look for repeated failures (NAME/ PATH NOT FOUND, ACCESS DENIED) or long waits accessing network paths — those indicate an unavailable resource or bad registry reference.

  4. Network targets in homepage/Favorites: verify the slow profile’s homepage and Favorites do not point to UNC paths or mapped drives that are unavailable; such links cause long timeouts.

  5. Per‑user IE reset, SFC and logs: resetting Internet Options for the affected profile and running sfc /scannow from an admin prompt can repair corrupted per‑user settings or system files (XP may request the CD). Also check Event Viewer for clues at the time IE stalls.

If ProcMon/Autoruns point to a specific missing file, registry key or network resource, repairing that item is drastically preferable to reformatting. Any profile/registry edits should be backed up beforehand.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for Doctor Inferno

You can post a hijackthis log and i can take a look at it for you. Malware might be the cause.

Member Avatar for usedcars

We have the same problem. My XP is so slow in the 2nd level users. It only work fine with the admin login while the users login it run so slow

Member Avatar for savo187

this can happend if you leave the first user account loged on while your on the second

Member Avatar for usedcars

no. it is on the beginning of the PC. The PC just start and no other account open.

Member Avatar for abraham1

I have a problem on a PC running Win XP Home Edition. Internet Expolrer 7.0 runs fine for the main user but VERY SLOW for the second one to the point of SOMETIMES timing out. They are both administrator accounts. The problem started soon after upgrade from IE-6. I reverted back to IE-6 and still have the same problem. I've run AdAware, Spybot Search/Destroy, Systemworks "One Button Checkup", and Win Startup Inspector with no change to the problem. I even added another account and that one also is slow. What else can I try?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Jim

I also having in this problem, please suggest me

Member Avatar for usedcars

Problem is solve when i reformat the PC. I did not use any additional users anymore. All log are admin level

Member Avatar for DarthGerardius

I was encountering the same problem. The second user account that was created (admin account with Windows XP), IE8 would be very slow starting up.

What I done was change some of the Search settings.

In IE8, click on Tools, then Internet Options, then on the General Tab, for Search it was then settings. It was mainly disabling some of the add-ons. Under Toolbars and Extensions, I disabled a few of the items that I never used, I kept most Google items, Java stuff and Norton Stuff. Under Accelerators, I removed a bunch from there that I haven't used... and not using InPrivate Filtering. Then I kept all Lan Settings unchecked.

After all was done, restarted the computer logged on the the main account, then switched to the second user account, and things started up much faster than before.

It worked for me at least....

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