I agree with you Bert- very weird.
David, you don't need to wipe your OS from your computer! That's way too much trouble, and it still may not fix your problem. What I do when things are "sticky" and I think that there is an issue with software interaction with Windows is run the following programs:
1) AVG antivirus (and possibly run the online free rcn-McAfee scan antivirus from
http://www.rcn.com/customer/virusscan.php)
2) Lavasoft's Adaware (and possibly run another malware scrubber)
3) Registry Mechanic (to fix and clean up your Windows Registry of any broken or mixed up software links)
4) System Cleaner (to remove unneeded files)
5) Start-> Run-> "msconfig" then uncheck all unnecessary programs under the "Startup" folder. In my current computer I only run "zlclient" (ZoneAlarm), "avgcc" (AVG antivirus), and Skype (Skype communications). If you are not sure what a file means, then simply Google the file name. For example, on the office computer where I am writing this, there is a file called "jusched". When I Googled it, I found that it is part of the Java-based program to get patient information from my hospital (it doesn't have to be running all the time in the background, so I unchecked it).
6) If I want to go further, I do some deep cleaning with a free program called Hijackthis.exe. This is the absolute MOST USEFUL program of this group. Just Google it and download the latest version from any number of sites (one excellent site that explains how to use it well is
http://www.whatthetech.com/hijackthis/). The program will scan for all active programs and allows you to delete unwanted active processes. If you aren't sure of what you are doing, it throws the report onto WordPad, so just copy it and post it in this thread to review.
Cheers,
Al
