Thank you very much. I just counted and there are 39. Yikes!

I'll not attempt it now as I'm too tired.....it's past 10pm here in OZ and I'm off to bed, but all being well....if the computer allows me, I'll have a look at it tomorrow and see how I go.

I must say I'm a bit scared I'll stop something that I shouldn't though. You just never know with me!!

Thank you everyone for your patience.

Hi Anne~~ PC Dummy here, so don't expect any help from me... BUt, I feel your frustration. MY PC was running like a 100 yo Granny w/her panty hose around her ankles....Yup, that slow.

I ended up getting online tech support from Dell and after 2 hrs, they fixed me and took a gazillion things out that I didn't need.

But, I have to add that I was still under my 4 yr warranty, so it didn't cost me. My SIL just did the same thing w/his laptop and it was a $40 chg, as his warranty was out... Just something to think about...

Hope you don't have to go offline..... WAHHHH! I would miss you!!!!

I found this site that looks to have a good variety

info on it-
http://vlaurie.com/index.html

also this one-
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
-I used the suggestions for "safe " settings of services on this site and no problems it went fine - we did have lots of extra stuff running on the laptop.

I haven't checked my main puter - but it is running fine - laptop was slow

A friend's computer had been doing as yours and rebooting itself. There was a registry key that was corrupt or something re: a Logitech component. She removed the component and now her machine works well, once again.

here's a link to one of my old threads from last spring-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread15401.html

I did get very frustrated with my pc - it was doing many odd things and it did end up being hardware problems .

It was 4 yrs old at the time too.

But I would try all the easy fixes first.

oh...the internal battery getting low can cause this too.

have you noticed if the time has gotten off?

No the clock hasn't gone off, but that's about the only thing that's still working well!

Seems my problem is much too large to solve through here, but I thank everyone for their help and support.

I'm unable to access the internet today, so am at some-one else's computer writing this.

I'll be back after I can get a Pro in to look at it for me,

Thanks to all, Anne

I just wanted to update all you wonderful people who offered me assistance in my hour of need.

My daughter has arrived from another state and brought her note book with her. When she tried to connect to my cable, she couldn't get signal. She contacted my ISP and they sent a technician to my home to check the cable and my computer.

End of that story is that although my computer was causing problems, it seems I had a fault caused by my ISP as well.

So far the computer hasn't shut itself down after doing lots of the things that were suggested by you all, and I can now connect to the internet once more. I have my fingers (etc) crossed, that whatever the problem was....it's eased for now.

As I said before, my PC is getting near it's use by date, so I really do hope I can win one in the Entertainment Package competition I'm entering. That would give me a brand new one. Wish me luck!