I have Windows 7 Professional on my laptop (since 2011, not updated). It was working fine, but suddenly the login screen has an unusually long please wait time, and lock screen takes about a minute or longer to appear after pressing Win + L. The rest is working OK.
I have checked fragmentation (about 6%). I hope it does not need to be defragged.
This problem does not occur in safe mode.
Bare minimum startup items (antivirus and graphics driver)
PC performance is good, no other slowdowns, not even in UAC.
Any suggestions? Any other info needed?