DL wrote:

Surely if the problem doesnt occur in Safe Mode, its a driver issue, or
something that is set to auto start

Yes possibly, but he already said he had tried:

I have tried updates, virus scans (which say the computer is clean),
removing unwanted software, freeing up disk space, de-fragin' the hard
drive and system restore, but none have proved successful.

Re-reading that, I don't see where he tried a clean boot so you're right -
that's one more thing to try if the problem doesn't occur in Safe Mode. I
shouldn't have made the assumption that he had already tried the clean
boot.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista -
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;929135

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ