Hi Mark,

Yes, many of them. That is why I don't believe it has anything to do with Composer. Opera's splash screen (where one chooses a saved session, no home page, home page, etc.) is extremely slow. Apps like Metapad and Rough Draft are, however, always instant loads.

I have cleaned the registry a number of times, using an app that detects duplicates, references to deleted apps, etc. Also compact it using Win Rescue once a month, and also run RegClean once a week.

Basically, I've just learned to live with it. Actual times, as examples, Opera's splash screen up to 8 seconds, Composer up to 5 seconds, Thunderbird usually around 3 seconds, Metapad less than 1 second.

Kind of head-scratching stuff, isn't it?

best,
mgj