MacOS – OSX Lion showing a white screen plus pointer prior to the desktop appearing

bootdesktopmacos

During boot-up, immediately after the Apple logo with the spinning progress wheel ends, rather than the desktop appear, I get a white screen with pointer in the top left for about 5 seconds. Then the desktop slides in with Caffeine, Flux and Dropbox loaded up in the title bar already.

Previously, (in this Lion install), the desktop would appear and then these icons would load in.

Can anyone suggest why I get this white screen and possibly suggest a way to rectify this issue?

edit: This is on reboots where I have not saved the open programs from a previous session.

Best Answer

The previous blue screen is replaced with the white screen in Lion - it is not a "new" startup screen, which can be removed.