Why is it slower to boot up and shut down

Question

For the last few months, at least since I updated to Mac OS 10.7.3 (this may not be related), I have noticed that the boot up sequence is a lot longer (4 to 5 times) than it used to be.  Although not as extreme, the shutting down sequence is also taking a lot longer than previously.  My software updates are always done and I run VirusBarrier X6 and BOINCManager in the background.  Is this normal or is this symptomatic of a problem?  Thanks

Answer 1

It's symptomatic of a problem. You might start with:
Boot into Safe Mode and do the following:
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported. Then click on the Repair Permissions button. When it completes then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
If this does not help then create a new user account. Log into the new account and then see how startups and shutdowns go. If things have improved you have issues created in your normal user account.
I would also suggest uninstalling software like VirusBarrier. Unless you require BOINC software I'd uninstall it, too. Also, check your Login Items in Users & Groups. These can prolong both startup and shutdown.