Thanks Pondus,

Something is definitely strange. I will await Essex Boy and given how many threads I have read on these forums with himself and yourself aiding many people I feel in safe hands…thanks again.

Another observation for you both while I wait:

The severity of this is now such that 4/5 times I boot, after logging on everything appears to freeze EXCEPT the mouse. I.e I get my normal desktop screen but not even the clock changes but the mouse works. It always seems to freeze when Avast AND/OR Malwarebytes is loading. The trouble is if I cant boot, I cant plug in my mobile 3G broadband dongle (3 Network in the UK) to get on the internet. I booted in Safe-Mode and using MSCONFIG disabled: Malwarebytes, BecHelperService.exe (which is apparently something to do with my broadband dongle) and RapportMgtService.exe (which is the security software my bank supplied).

Interestingly after disabling these it booted OK however after a second reboot back to strange things. I haven’t had any of the strange ZX spectrum music anymore though although it was very random when that would occur. When I connect through the dongle occasionally two firefox windows will open and appear to do nothing but I find this odd - Note I only use Firefox…I have an IE7 installed with the machine but I never use it.

Cheers
Dziga