Weird delay when opening some applications

Hi all, I experience some odd delay when opening certain applications on Vista x64

Hi I got a 64-bit Vista Enterprise install on my computer.

Recently, the system disk started failing. Before disaster happened i managed to replace it with a new one and clone it.

Unfortunately some applications such as Firefox, Thunderbird, Steam now start with an extra delay. For example if I fire up Firefox I'll notice disk activity for some seconds and then nothing for 20 seconds. After that it will resume loading the application and start it as normal. The application responds fast after that so there's no lag whatsoever.
Also worth mentioning is that the new disk i got has better overall performance.

I've tried to uninstall these applications completely and reinstall. I then started them without any addons or profiles that might make it run slow. But I still get these delays. The system is otherwise responsive. As I said this only concerns these three applications.

I read on these forums that you could create a performance log for analyze.
http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...control-panel-programs-start-windows-7-a.html

I'd appreciate if someone helps me out with this. I have no other options and I'm not sure about what to do next. A reinstall is not an option. I'm sure it's just something I've forgot to try/do.

Thanks for the help /C