Do you have a good spyware program installed ?  Good anti virus program as well and have it up to date ?  Run both to see if it might be spyware that is giving you trouble.  How much memory do you have, and is it enough....512 mb to be on the safe side. 

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ Spyware program
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html  Spyware program
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html  Spyware program

Dim 4400
2.6 Ghz 400 FSB
1 Gb 2100 DDR Memory
20 Gb hard drive 7,200
Windows XP Home - SP-2
Leadtek 6600 GT ( AGP ) video
48xCDRW
17 LCD ( 1703 FP )
250 watt power supply

hi thanks for the reply i have     norton anti virus and antispam 2005  also have ms antispyware ive done scans a few times and neither pick up any thing 

also i have 1024mb RAM

thanks for the reply

Norton is a resource hog for many systems, including mine, so I got rid of it for PCI-Cillion Internet Security.  This may or may not be the only problem.  If your system is new, and you have not done so yet, Dell puts a lot of junk onto the system, that really slows it down.  Again, this may not be the only problem you have.  Many of us have just reformatted, and reinstalled windows to get rid of all the Dell junk, and our systems run a lot faster.  However, reformatting and reinstalling means some work, and you will loose everything unless you back it up to a disk. 

What you can also do is Defrag the Hard drive, use your Disk CleanUp program as well to see if this helps.  I hope other's will weigh in on this problem you have and give you additional suggestion, other than mine.  Good luck

Dim 4400
2.6 Ghz 400 FSB
1 Gb 2100 DDR Memory
20 Gb hard drive 7,200
Windows XP Home - SP-2
Leadtek 6600 GT ( AGP ) video
48xCDRW
17 LCD ( 1703 FP )
250 watt power supply

hi thanks for the reply ive tried derfagmenting still the same, ive also noticed the amout of stuff dell puts on the computer . 

when i start up i notice comes up from norton saying "norton cannot support the repair. please unistall then reinstall" could this be anything to do with it?

Norton is problematic at best when you uninstall it, and try to install it again.  Unknow what that message means, and hope someone else does.  This program, and AOL leaves much of itself all over the place after you try to uninstall it, so many just bite the bullet, and reinstall windows after reformatting.  I know its time consuming to reformat and reinstall windows, but you may wish to do this if nothing else works.  You can uninstall some other Dell worthless programs that you don't want or need to see if that helps, but a clean install is the best way. 

Lets see if anyone else can assist you, before you make up your mind as to what to do next.   If you do want to reformat the system, make sure your have all the disks that came with the system, including the Operating System CD.  You did get a OS CD or at least burned one to disk when you got your system did you not ?

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1091713&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

Dim 4400
2.6 Ghz 400 FSB
1 Gb 2100 DDR Memory
20 Gb hard drive 7,200
Windows XP Home - SP-2
Leadtek 6600 GT ( AGP ) video
48xCDRW
17 LCD ( 1703 FP )
250 watt power supply

Message Edited by SR45 on 08-02-2005 09:34 AM