Some good suggestions there, I'll give them a try tonight. I agree with you Richard that I thought the hard drive would make more noises if it was about to give up the ghost.
Unfortunately I've just been told that the thing froze again, so hopefully some of the suggestions may yield a solution. (Note the slow distancing of it from myself now)
The suggestion about upgrading to XP seems that it may be valid, I've found an OEM version for £61 (inc VAT) but I can't find much information about how it's better or what it improves upon, so,
What's so special about XP?
Does it do much more than ME?
It seems to need a more powerful system to operate wouldn't that just use more of my resources and slow down my applications?
Most new viruses seem to be written to work in XP, would I not be opening myself up to attack?
Does it make applications more efficient?
Cheers.