When I start the computer it generally churns for several minutes. Often I will have to sign in to MSN Messenger manually. I run XP, Service Pack 2, AdAware, CrapCleaner and SpyWare Blaster. MSN is my ISP. MSN has given me many suggestions about this problem, but none of them work. I leave my computer on all the time (not on line). The problem is worse on the first sign-in of the day but is always present. I keep up on cleaning the machine including disk clean-up and defragging. Any thoughts?

For what it's worth, my computer does a lot of churning too when I boot it up. But I also have a whole slew of programs that begin running during the boot process, so I don't think, in my case, that it's a problem or an indication of anything "wrong."  Eventually it stops and everything is fine.

I went to msconfig and changed the start-up from selective to normal. This seemed to help but it still does a lot of churning. Contrary to my reply, I don't have a lot of programs and I don't think it is normal.

You may have a hard drive that is getting close to failure.

Is there a test for a failing hard drive?

Dear Nvogen,

I really suggest that you read the complete article on the following link, before going/purchasing any software for repairing your HDD.
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/hdfailure.ars
.
Viqar[b][/b]

Most hard drive manufacturers have programs on their web site, you can download for free, that will determine the condition of the hard drive.

Hello,nvogen,the churning is probabbly caused by the Indexing Services, I had the same problem and went to msconfig.exe and disabled it , I have found that service is suposed to help you find files faster ,but I don't see any difference after disabling it and the churning is gone. if that service is running you will always have that churning noise even at idle.       good luck     mrobto

Thanks, mrobto. I did as you suggested and most of the churning stopped. I still have to sign in to MSN messenger manually at times.

I have a similar problem, but think it is due to loading ZoneAlarm, Webroot Spysweeper, Symantec Anti-Virus and the Automatic Update for WinXPPro. These programs 'phone home' at startup, and take some time to load.
Does anyone else have a similar problem with these programs?