The TDS-3 scan found 4 alarms. What are they? Please post them here. They should be in a file called scandump.txt.
Run a scan in HijackThis. Check each of the following and hit 'Fix checked' (after checking them) if they still exist (make sure not to miss any):
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [InCD] C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\jusched.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AOLDialer] C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSMSGS] "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O4 - Global Startup: AOL 9.0 Tray Icon.lnk = C:\Program Files\AOL 9.0\aoltray.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Picture Package Menu.lnk = ?
O4 - Global Startup: Picture Package VCD Maker.lnk = ?
That should improve the speed at startup.
Yes, because of the firewall
You need to go into McAfee firewall and make sure it's not blocking all traffic. I don't like McAfee firewall. If you can, uninstall it and go with
ZoneAlarm instead. There's a free version for personal use.