This is a clean install Starkers. Right from the Windows 7 DVD. And all the current drivers installed. The machine is 5 years old. That might be it.
A clean install is definitely the best way to go, but the machine being 5 years old should not make a difference if all components are working as they should. Mind you, I've not heard of Mushkin Source SSDs before. Is it a US brand or Chinese, etc?
I might be overreacting. Actually did a stopwatch on the system, 24 seconds from hitting the power switch to when the password dialog and chime are presented and heard, after password entry 4 seconds to a fully usable desktop with wifi connected and all startup programs loaded.
Those are quite good times, Kona, better than the current ones on my AMD big beastie, in fact. I'm getting between 30 to 40 seconds to boot it to a working desktop, depending on whether there are active external drives connected, usually the longer time if there are, but then I do have a fair few startup programs loaded as well.
I could shorten those times if I were to unload some of the startup programs, but then I'd have to load them manually later, so I leave them as they are. I could also shorten boot times by removing the full logo and other pages in the BIOS, but then it makes entering the BIOS more difficult when pressing 'Delete'
Ah what the heck, 30 to 40 seconds isn't bad. I'll just leave it.