Reply #1: What OS? [View All]

[LisaLynne]

I'm assuming ... Windows XP? Those little icons represent programs starting up. Do you run Anti-virus software (Norton or McAfee)? Have you installed anything recently? It might be a problem with one of those programs.

What you can do is start up the computer and hit the F8 key before you see the Windows Splash screen. This can be tricky in XP because it all happens so quickly. Then, you should be able to boot into Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, a lot of these programs are not started. You can uninstall them if you have the software to reinstall them, then reboot and see if it helps. You can also remove things in the Startup folder, so they don't start up automatically. They won't all be in there, because some of them like to be sneaky!