Thanks for replying Sky .

I have increased the RAM of this laptop - it's now 1.2 GB (used to be 256MB and horribly slow) so it works well in that way.

I've also tested the firewall and made sure that all the programs I want to install have access, and I've disabled security programs and firewalls to test if they are stopping them from working - and it doesn't make any difference

I have all the original discs, and there isn't much on this laptop since I relied so much on the old dead computer (though all it needs is a disk drive enclosure and I'll be able to rescue the info on it)

That program sounds good, I do know of a program called Hijack This, if that's what you're thinking of, and apparently it's rather complicated but it's supposed to be accurate. I'll search the tech forum sometime - luckily it's only small

Thanks a lot, Sky