Decided to down load AVG free, system never worked properly afterwards so have un-installed for the moment. I use XP with service pack 2 ~ no other conflicting programmes as far as I know ~ might I just not have enough memory with appx. 10 gb spare? I am puzzled, any clues helpful

For starters, XP is up to Service pack 3, I'd recommend getting all the updates as well. THere are a HUGE number of vulnerabilities fixed since SP2. That leaves less for any security software to protect from.

I agree with the above post. And since AVG is already uninstalled, go to the program files directory and delete the AVG folder. THen after all your updates are installed reboot then install avg again. If you have any issues then post the error messages.

Many thanks, I'm going to do a bit of tidying up pronto

I agree with smoothy, get SP3. You may download it from Windows Update. Once that is installed, go back to Windows Update and download the available updates - including Internet Explorer 8, if you haven't done so yet. There is more than enough memory for AVG free but if you don't want to use that and you want another free anti-virus program, check out MS Essentials at:

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/