I thought at first it was the Broadband connection but other progs are affected, eg in a spreadsheet it takes much longer for the tools menu to drop down. I have defragged and spare capacity is about 80%
Please has anyone any suggestions (I only have very basic pc skills)

Have you run CC cleaner?

I have looked but can`t find cc cleaner. What is it?

ccleaner is was you are after... Google it

You will find it here among other things that can help you http://www.softwarecybersleuth.co.uk/ this site was shown to us by Dragglestail a member on Sheffield Forum you can always get the link if you find one of his posts

Thanks very much I will try that.

Everything is now back to normal. It seems that it might have been my screensaver which was a picture show of various photos, at least taking it off seemed to do the trick.