Have you tried any cleaning programs that look for SPYWARE? Spyware can really bog a computer down after a while and it's not something that your anti-virus software would catch.
Two programs that I use are:
AdAware SE
and
Spybot Search and Destroy
These programs are freeware and you can download them. To be safe, I would download them from a reputable site like
www.pcworld.com. Just search for AdAware and Spybot and it will pull them up for you.
I would run Spybot first because it gives you the option to create a "restore point" should anything get deleted that shouldn't have. Then you can run it and clean up the spyware. After that you can run AdAware - both programs often find things that the other program missed. That's why I use both.
Hope that info helps.
-- DJ
P.S. - If Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't work, instead of just unplugging the computer, have you tried holding down the power button for about 5 seconds? When I have to do a "hard" shutdown, that's what I do... I don't know if it's actually any easier on the PC than pulling the plug - but it makes me feel better <LOL>
