That seems a unique problem. It's only in your post here and in your post 12 minutes ago in http://www.avforums.com/threads/problem-with-my-xp-laptop.1874623/
But that might be because you didn't tell the full and litteral message (only litteral messages are found by google).
If you happen to know what program you installed that gives this message, better uninstall it. If you don't know, I'd start with system restore back to before 'a short while'. Then all should be fine again.
Reinstalling XP from the disk that came with the laptop (1 disk? or more?) should be documented in the user manual. Then it's not too difficult. It really depends on the disks you have.
Kees
Hi, For a short while now I am experiencing a difficulty in starting up windows on my laptop. When I switch on the screen shows 'welcome' to windows the I get a horizontal block in the middle of the screen headed STARTING and it says 'we're getting things ready it can take up to a minute'.
Mostly it takes a good 10 minutes to start and sometimes not at all. Is there an obvious problem or should I delete windows XP from the system and reinstall from the disc? Is it an easy task for a tech novice?
thanks

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