when my computer is booting up, right before the screen that SAYS "windows is starting up/loading personal settings", i hear a beep from my computer's internal speaker and then it takes extra long during the "windows is starting up/loading personal settings" screen-this didn't happen until after i installed sp2the beep you mention is normal...try a few tweaks have a look here>http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm i have my own options on updating....I have my own opinions on most of Merlin's posts

scan for viruses, trojans and spyware.

Defragment on a regular basis.

Also clean your registry and remove redundant files.What happens with updates they pinch your hard drive space...screwup your pc...then along comes a reg cleaner...and deletes most of the winupdates....so what is the advantage of having them in the first place i can understand that programmer may have placed a dot is instead of a dash reg PATCHES..butwhy are there so many updates...views on this subject...a poll maybe...There are updates because some software isn't properly written and requires FIXING.....?

Why do you THINK technology constantly keeps IMPROVING?