[furryoldlobster]

My computer has been acting increasingly difficult over the past few months.  It started with taking longer and longer to start up (it takes around 40minutes), and now web pages (including Claytonia's main forum page) don't format correctly leaving unclickable links and garbled text. 

Any ideas on whats going on, or how to fix it?

[Tslat]

Scan for viruses Is your first bet

[sharingjan]

Don't know how old computer is, but if it's old, try to get a new one, even cheap ones are sometimes better than old ones.
If he is relatively new, scan for viruses/malware.
If that doesnt help, try to get a fresh start, delete everything, and get a clean copy of your computer(back-up all your files you want to kep first)

[Clay]

msconfig is a good start

http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/

[furryoldlobster]

The comp itself is quite new (well relatively new), which I built january of last year.  8 gigs of ram.  quad core processor at 3.8 GHz.  liquid cooled.  64 bit windows 7.  I'm solid on the hardware side...its the software side where I need assistance.  Even after using windows 7 for a year, i'm still playing catchup (my last OS was win2000).   

I'm doing a virus scan now with current software so that should help a little. 

you've mentioned this msconfig before....in windows 7, is this run from the command prompt, or somewhere else?  Also...I'm not sure where I can even run DOS on windows 7.  I'm THAT oblivious to this OS....

*note....i just found your link....I'm so embarassed....*

[furryoldlobster]

Thanks all.  I've run through msconfig, and may have found one of the culprits.  And my scans it got rid of all but 4 of active threats, so thats something. 

My guess is, if this doesn't work, I'll have to do a clean wipe; something else with which I'm unfamiliar.

[Clay]

don't do a system factory restore yet.... tons more options to try 1st

[furryoldlobster]

Thanks everyone. Seems already improved.  I can load the main claytonia forum page, unlike this morning.