Switched McAfee off and PC started ok booting normally into Vista.. I'll test it some more to see if McAfee is the cause.

BB - you will have noticed the cautions - while McAfee is off, be careful what you 'visit' and do not open/download any emails - an overkill no doubt, but better safe than sorry. Switch on the Windows Firewall for safety.

Well switched McAfee off as far as you can. Although listed in the services start up list McShield, McAfee Validation Trust Protection can be unchecked but they cannot be turned off. You can select apply and then OK and then go back and you see they are checked on again.

Also when running OK I selected the McAfee desktop icon and it came up saying everything was working so I'm not sure whether I really turned it off or not. Or did selecting the McAfee icon turn it on??

Anyhow problem has lessened only two fail to boots against about 5 or successes. Only one failure had an event logged something to do with d\longhorn etc etc which a web search suggested a conflict with Vista gadgets..

So better but not fully cured... thanks for the advice..

There's probably a special routine to remove McAfeee, just as there is with Norton.

They get hooks in where others don't.

vulcanised
 

Correct How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe)

Does Safe Mode work OK each and every time ? Full system scan for threats OK ? Downloaded new graphics drivers ?

Safe mode works ever time and only once has system restore failed to work. Picking another restore point got over that difficulty. McAfee stills seems to be working so I'll try a full scan. Replacement video card fitted a few weeks ago so I'm assuming up to date drivers but will check..

I thinking of not renewing McAfee and relying on Windows built in stuff eg firewall, defender. I also have a program called Malbyte installed when first sent for repair. There is AVG as an option too

I have found a combination of ZoneAlarm and Avast has worked well for me over the past five years, and it's cost me nothing.

Oh, OK. A lot of the modern security suites don't like any other security software on there. Have you added any spyware checkers lately ?

When you ran msconfig, did you switch everything off ? Anything in there related to other security software ?