a whole range of issues...

[stewart borland]

OK, thanks, I'll try that next. By tapping everything else but, I have stumbled upon and run a memory test and a drive test - both ok.

I tried to uninstall a windows update (I discovered 1 out of the 14(?) had somehow installed and wondered if that had done anything) but it just opened the 'this may take a few minutes' type box and sat there for 30 minutes. I clicked cancel to get rid of it but it seems to have gone.
I then treid clicking on windows update again but although the window opened and the mouse was 'spinning the blue circle busy thing' it never filled in any icons or words - just an empty box for 15 minutes until I ctrl/alt/del to get rid of it.

I also notice when I click on the start button I get the window immediately but the contents appear around 20 seconds later?

Just thinking ahead, does Vista Ultimate have the repair option that XP did that keeps all your programs?

I'll try BIOS now and report back....

EDIT: No, the delete key just got me the option of booting windows or the memory test I've already run???