Every one of my GOG games (I have lots now) takes an excessive amount of time before appearing to start, in excess of 60 seconds. This is an offline machine, and has no background processes running (none that should affect startup of games, anyway).

It doesn't matter the size, or complexity of the game, all of them have that l-o-n-g pause.

Once the game appears, it runs normally at full speed.

Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me? I have recently reinstalled graphics and sound drivers to try and remedy the situation. Also enabled 'stereo mix' as a sound input device. I was thinking that the games launched a compatibility layer (like Wine)?. More news shortly if the new drivers have made a difference.

I usually get a 20-30 second pause the FIRST time I launch a game after it's installed. I always just assumed it was doing its .dll trick for DRM removal... I've never had this sort of thing happen every single time. After the first initial pause they always start right up.

Win7 64, however, so that might make a difference.

I believe this is caused by UAC (User Account Control) under Windows Vista and Windows 7. Therefore everyone using those operating systems should be affected (I know I am). i think the only thing you can do about it is to disable UAC.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't read the OP carefully enough. I only have this problem when installing GOG games, not every time I start them.

Ya that's very odd, just like Bev I only get 20-30 second pause the first time. You might want to maybe try a defrag.