Logging in to Windows 7 with one specific user account is very slow. Why?

Question

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) and I have created 3 user accounts, two regular users and one administrator.

When logging in as the administrator or as one of the user accounts I get to a usable desktop in about 2-3 seconds.

The other user account consistently takes about 10 seconds to login. I have deleted it and recreated it twice, using a different user name the second time and yet it is still 3-4 times slower to login that the other accounts.

Anyone have any ideas what the problem might be or how to fix it? Is there some special registry magic required to finally kill off a user that the control panel delete doesn't do?

Is it a coincidence that the slow account is always the first in the list of accounts at bootup? (first on the left)?

Solution

Try the following:

• Delete the affected user account in the control panel
• Delete the user profile and user directory manually
  • Delete the c:\users\username\ directory completely
• Restart the computer
• Create the account
• Log in to this account for the first time
• Restart the computer
• Log in to this account for the second time

The second log in time for this newly created account should be as quick as the other users'.

Comments

[ChimpBoy]

I can't up vote this unfortunately, as I don't have the rep. Which is a shame as it's a good answer.

[ChrisF]

You could verify it by changing to a solid colour desktop on the other user account.

[trip0d199]

upvoted for you :)