Could a Firewall/antivirus cause slow startup times?

(not sure ifthis is the right place to post it)but i have zonealarm and i recently (last night) reinstalled Vista also im noticing and tremendous increase in startup time from my pc just by running 1 core not all four!
if this is the problem can anyone tell me another really good firewall that doesnt make it startup so slow
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q9650 @ 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo Motherboard
    Memory
    8 Gb XMS Corsair DDR2 @ 800 MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD 4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23 inch ACER monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Single Hitachi 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA
    PSU
    750 watt Corsair
    Case
    CoolerMaster HAF 932 Mini Tower Case
    Cooling
    Thermaltake V1 Cpu cooler 3 case fans
    Mouse
    Dell standard
    Internet Speed
    10 MBPS
Hello Impulse Fire911,
Have you tried to enable all the cores ?. Try it and see if that makes a difference.
I have never used any Firewall except the Windows one. You just need to be careful with the sites you visit and your download content.
Hope this helps, post your results and good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor
    300 Gig Maxtor
    300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
Vista with 1 core boot- 51 seconds
Vista With 4 core Boot- 34 seconds
yeah it does increase speed but im just hoping its not my firewall because its a good firewall ive had it since windows 98.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q9650 @ 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo Motherboard
    Memory
    8 Gb XMS Corsair DDR2 @ 800 MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD 4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23 inch ACER monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Single Hitachi 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA
    PSU
    750 watt Corsair
    Case
    CoolerMaster HAF 932 Mini Tower Case
    Cooling
    Thermaltake V1 Cpu cooler 3 case fans
    Mouse
    Dell standard
    Internet Speed
    10 MBPS
I would say that Vista booting in 51 sec is not to shabby.
If mine booted in 51 sec i would be happy.
If it was me i would leave well alone. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
You have to remember that any added software is going to add to the boot time, i would still say that 51 sec is fine.
Have you looked at the various boot times in the boot time thread on this forum ?, if you do you will see that yours is quite good.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor
    300 Gig Maxtor
    300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
eek i'd rip out zonealarm to test. in the past zonealarm has had bugs which cause really long startup and shutdown processes. like 15minutes long.

Za might have a patch or an update to fix it. but i remember my vista machine experienced this huge slow down due to ZA.

as a baseline, i'd remove zonealarm and see if it fixes it.

another really good free firewall is comodo, which is what i use. i use to be a big ZA fan as well.
 

My Computer

Yeah with ZA installed i get about 111 seconds on a fast startup its just good to know thats the only problem still its a great firewall and protects a bunch so now i can feel great knowing the pc i built isnt faulty.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q9650 @ 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo Motherboard
    Memory
    8 Gb XMS Corsair DDR2 @ 800 MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD 4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23 inch ACER monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Single Hitachi 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA
    PSU
    750 watt Corsair
    Case
    CoolerMaster HAF 932 Mini Tower Case
    Cooling
    Thermaltake V1 Cpu cooler 3 case fans
    Mouse
    Dell standard
    Internet Speed
    10 MBPS
As long as you are happy with it, thats the main thing.
Good luck, and if you get any other problems, you now know where we are. :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor
    300 Gig Maxtor
    300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
One thing you can do without making any changes is enable boot logging. On my Vista64 system when I first got it, I used PC Decrapifier to get rid of the trash. But my system was still taking 2 minutes for a warm boot cycle. Turned out it was still trying to load Norton av drivers, even though the software was uninstalled. I had to download Norton removal tool and run it a couple of times. That took about 40 seconds off the reboot time.

If you see in the boot log it's trying to load drivers and failing, do a search on those filenames. If they're not on the HD they can't be loaded, but the system will wait for the time-out before going to the next one.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G
    2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
i appreciate the help ill try that thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q9650 @ 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo Motherboard
    Memory
    8 Gb XMS Corsair DDR2 @ 800 MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD 4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23 inch ACER monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Single Hitachi 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA
    PSU
    750 watt Corsair
    Case
    CoolerMaster HAF 932 Mini Tower Case
    Cooling
    Thermaltake V1 Cpu cooler 3 case fans
    Mouse
    Dell standard
    Internet Speed
    10 MBPS
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