I'm having a somewhat similar problem. Paint.NET works fine and at a normal speed after loading, but the loading itself ( just for one pic, regardless of size ) takes a full minute, where before it would only take a few seconds. During the load, my entire comp stops responding.
My processor / RAM specs are 1.86 GHz / 1 GB, which seems fine. Plus, this was the same setup on which the load times were faster. Reinstalls, defragments, and other optimizations haven't made a dent. Any other ideas as to the cause of the sudden slowness?
