text: start with the simple steps that can't screw up your pc first! while most of the answers here can be correct, do ONE STEP AT A TIME. especially messing with your start up files (msconfig). i say make sure that you make sure performace is set to programs. SYSTEM PROPERTIES > ADVANCED > PERFORMANCE OPTIONS > and choose ADJUST FOR BEST PERFORMANCE. letting windows choose for you causes problems. next go to add/remove programs and remove out of the box extraneous applications that most manufacturers install such as AOL or Symantec Anti-virus (if that's what you're not choosing to use). than start the steps of the other answers.