THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY. I RUN NORTON AV 2001 AND HAVE DONE FOR SOME TIME BUT I TRIED EVERYTHING YOU SAID AND I APPEAR TO BE TROJAN/VIRUS FREE. ONE THING I HAVE FOUND THAT IF I DOUBLE-CLICK ON MMTASK TSK IN THE SYSTEM FILE I GET AN ERROR MESSAGE:
MICROSOFT CONNECTION MANAGER
THE SERVICE PROFILE IS DAMAGED. RE-INSTALL THE SERVICE PROFILE

WOULD THIS BE CONNECTED TO MY PROBLEM? DO YOU THINK IT WISE FOR ME TO JUST RE-INSTALL WINDOWS?