"log on to windows" screen takes too long

[Fready]

Hello
I am running win2k prof. on my notebook. lately when ever I start my machine and the boot process gets to the "log on to windows" screen which is after the "preparing network connections..." step, the pointer turns into an "hour glass" and stays like that for exactly 1 minute before turning back to an "arrow" pointer agian.
I have done the following steps but unfortunately with no luck:

-I have stopped all non-windows start up applications
- strat the machine in safe mode
- stopped network connections.

any ideas?

 

[jeremybarker]

How large is your user account? Check it in -system properties -user accounts. Try storing your email, documents(if you have alot) somewhere outside of your user account. Also keep your desktop clear of anything but shortcuts. After all the moving is done, run a scandisk and defrag.
Might be a start!

 

[Fready]

I checked the size of the accounts on the machine,the admin. account is ~4MB and there is one user account which is 35MB. I did some cleaning of the user account and did a defrag afterwards but still the problem persists. it takes exactly 60 second before the hour glass turns to an arrow.