I get messages on shut down-"fdm not responding"or something like"Cstarthelpersrv indexstore" and everything freezes.Some programs are running very slow and also freeze and I tried to remove an unwanted program which also caused the screen to freeze.2 days ago I had to use system restore because it wouldn't get past the welcome screen.The trouble started when i tried to remove another program called Safari ,which took hours,and before shutting down i ran Ccleaner to remove temp files and ran the Registry clean.Prior to that everything was fine.I've scanned with avg free and XoftspySE and there's no infection.I'm running defrag now which i do regularly.I don't know enough to mess with the Registry.Any help would be appreciated.

pigsyj, a couple of things come to mind. Might be either/neither. First thing is a trojan/worm. Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean, other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, Superantispyware can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.superantispyware.com/ among other places. They have a Vista compatible version if needed. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running and disable 'restore' (restart after cleaning) so it doesn't get put back. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. The restore thing is critical. May not be your deal at all, but won't hurt anything to try. Second FWIW, Windows seems to have been plagued with shutdown problems of one sort or another since day 1. I use a standalone shutdown proggie (for convenience) called 'Slawdog' (said to work on all versions). Get it free @: http://www.slawdog.com/products/sma... among other places. Works good and I drag/dropped the icon into my quicklaunch so it'd be handy for use. May not help, but won't hurt. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Thanks Ed,I seem to have resolved the problem,but Superantispyware looks good, so I'm going to keep it handy-I understand about disabling restore-good advice.Thanks again.