I know this may not be a Virus/Spyware problem but the boys on the MS OS forun suggested that somebody here may be able to help with this particular problem.

I am runnning Eset NOD 32 av and Mawarebytes on demand. Nothing untoward revealed after deep scans.

Here is a link to my original forum post which oulines the problem:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f/3524/t/19460817.aspx

Shaun