Am I paranoid, or do I just have a REALLY slow PC at work?

For quite some time now I have been complaining about the slowness of my laptop PC at work - especially when compared to similar computers I use outside work.

The slowness often manifests itself when I power up from standby, hibernate, or completely off.

I often blame the slowness on virus scanners, etc.

But I wonder: could my laptop be occupied by a rootkit?

Note that I don't say "malware such as a rootkit". Possibly it could be a rootkit placed by bad guys.

But possibly also it could be a rootkit or other monitoring software placed by my employer's IT Security people. This comes to mind because of patent applications 20070083739 Processor with branch predictor and 20070083735 Hierarchical processor, invented by me, assigned to and prepared by Centaurus Data LLC and related companies.

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=11&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=glew.IN.&OS=IN/glew&RS=IN/glew

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=12&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=glew.IN.&OS=IN/glew&RS=IN/glew

Am I paranoid? Or do I just have a really slow system? And are virus scanners and other cruft really wasting as much time on other people's conputers as they seem to be on mine?