Thanks GG I looked at the first link previously and wasn't sure if I was being directed to a " pay for a removal tool " site. The removal steps look do-able enough.
All I get is cookies - I did previously have a Babylon tool bar which I seemed to remove or disable easily enough through CCleaner.
The slow response of my machine definitely indicated there is a nasty at work but other than cookies at browser launch I see nothing concrete.
I'll do the safe mode removal route and see what happens - thanks for the moral support.
Cheers
SF