Here's a strange thing. After booting, web browsers take a very long time to launch. I usually use Firefox 3.5.3, but the same thing happens with IE.

After a while, the browser opens, and everything seems to work fine. No performance issues at all, until the next startup.

It's not the Internet connection itself, because while I wait, I can open Thunderbird and retrieve e-mails.

This is on Windows XP.

Any thoughts? Does it happen for any other applications? Have you tried scanning for viruses or malware/spyware?Anything new since the last time they opened normally (new hw, sw, virus)?It does not happen with any other applications -- only web browers.

No new programs or hardware have been added recently.

Haven't tried scanning for spyware yet. Will do that tonight, but is there anything else I should be on the lookout for? Let's start with that. Do a full system scan with your AV and then do another with MalwareyBytes and/or Super AntiSpywareClose Firefox. Go Start>All Programs>Mozilla Firefox, click on Mozilla Firefox (safe mode). Same thing?

Close IE.
Go Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools, and click on Internet Explorer (no add-ons). Same thing?To follow up: I've scanned with Norton AntiVirus and with Malware Bytes. No problems were detected.

After rebooting, I tried launching Firefox (safe mode). It took a long time to open, just as the regular Firefox did.

Again, this only happens when first booting up. Afterward, browsers work fine, and I'm not noticing any problems with speed or anything else. While waiting for the browser to launch, I checked Task Manager, but didn't see anything UNUSUAL going on. I hear the disc running, but the system RESOURCES are in the single-digits, nowhere near 100% usage.

So, I'm still puzzled. Anything else that I should check? Yeah, one other thing I'd like you to try. Please boot to safe mode (with or without networking) and open a browser. Does it still take a long time?In addition to what Allan said, try to create new profile: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_ManagerHi!
firefox is too SLOW to launch now in my desktop but in my laptop its as fast as IE. why is that so? Does my files have SOMETHING to do with this??

trampolines