>>>Hello,
>>>
>>>We have a PC running WinNT 4.0 Workstation, and whenever you log in, the machine accesses the harddrive for about 5 minutes - without fail and without any indication of what it is doing.
>>>I've looked in the startup boxes, for my user and for the administrator and for all users, there is nothing.
>>>We have disabled the virus protection software (Norton antivirus and Norton utilities), in case that was the problem - but it didn't change anything.
>>>If I check the task manager, the only thing using the CPU is the IDLE PROCESS.
>>>I don't know where else to look - any ideas? Thanks!
>>
>>I'd start by looking at programs started through registry entries; try HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion and look under the Run and RunServices keys, as well as the StartUp folders you've already examined. You could also see what's running through Task Manager.
>
>I wonder if the virtual memory file is also having problems. Maybe the drive needs defragmenting or has bad sectors so it is struggling to set up the VM file?

You can always try disabling Virtual Memory (not recommended for a running environment, and forget it without at least 32MB of real memory). Are you using FAT or NTFS partitions?