Hello,
I'm running a clean computer (no spyware, etc.) but am having trouble starting almost any application (such as Gurunet, NAV 2005, MSIE, Family Tree Maker). Others stop functioning (freeze) after a while - such as Excel. Could this be a sign of a bad sector or HD? Is there a tool to identify this? Thank you for any help!

In addition when I shut down my computer it gets stuck at Saving my settings...

It would help if you told us more about your machine. How old is it. What CPU, what version of Windows, how much RAM?

Have you done regular maintenance such a scandisk/chkdsk (error checking), defragging, purging temp internet files, etc.

Hi,
My first thought is that your hard drive is full of clutter; junk files, temp files, taking up more space than they should.

I would try this first:

Download/install the great, free, cleaner, called CCleaner. You can set what cookies you want to keep, set other folders to clean out, etc.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

It will do all the maintenance you need on junk files, with just 2 clicks!
Once you have deleted all the temp and junk files, your computer should start behaving normally; if nothing else is wrong.
Best wishes,
fredg

Thanks for the help, ran the ccleaner, it sure cleaned a few things but the problems remained. A bit background:
1.7Ghz, 768 RAM, Win XP Pro SP2, 3 year old comp.
Issue started last week but not related to any new installation or so (I didn't do any of that). At the time of notice I had ICQ running for a bit. Current issues:
- Clicking on IE gives me an hourglass but program never starts (I do see it appear in task manager but that's it). IE does start in Safe Mode
- From the task bar I can start NAV 2005, it does open but freezes, I cannot do anything about it but close
- Firefox starts just fine (that's how I communicate now)
- Windows update doesn't work even in a safe mode
- Outlook 2003 does start and even downloads mail for all my accounts but freezes on Hotmail(!), never happened before.
- When shutting down/restarting my computer it gets stuck at saving my settings... (never happened before). This would suggest unwanted process running or bad HD sector. But I didn't have luck to identify either.
- Family Tree Maker 2005 gets stuck after start up as well.
- Other programs seem to work fine


My first thought was hijack.
Ran HiJack This (nothing found), Spybot and Adaware - same results, now ccleaner has cleaned it up entirely but programs still do not function (unless I use Safe Mode). Any thoughts? Thank you all

And yes, I've done defrag, scandisk, etc.

Just a thought, have you tried doing a system restore?

Couldn't do system restore because the Windows just wouldn't shut down and since I had to press the button, restore would fail (what a pain). Anyway, did a restore in Safe mode nad Voilà I'm back in the game. THANKS. What really bothers me though is that I don't know what the problem was, anyway, good exercise. Thanks again

Hmm, sounds like something while running it normally may have been hanging it up, but yeah running it in safe mode will just run what's needed and get the job done, but do keep safe, have a av and spyware and adware removers handy!

Exactly, you should see my toolbox now. 3 firewalls, NAV 2005, Microsoft Spyware, Spybot, Adaware, Ccleaner, HijackThis! Bad things are good for another. Thank you all for help