You can try SeaTools for Windows to do a quick check on your hard drive or SeaTools for DOS to do a more comprehensive test. The latter requires creating either a floppy or ISO CD. The former you can just run through Windows.

Seagate Technology - SeaTools

This will at least remove any doubt as to the integrity of your hard drive.

I've checked the hard drive and it is fine

I would suggest monitoring your Task Manager > Processes to see if you can find a particular process that spikes the CPU when a hang occurs.

You can also try selectively to turn things off and see if there is any difference.

I would start with Zone Alarm. You can turn on the XP firewall temporarily.

Hi

I finally decided to remove absolutely everything which is not in virtual daily use and have reduced Application hang to just 3 occasions yesterday.

I will re-install programs on an as needed basis so I hope I can discover the gremlin which was causing the problems and eliminate it that way.

Thank you for your help - I guess I should have done this before crying for help but it seemed drastic and I didn't really want to lose all the programs, all I hope is that I have the odd cd rom around from which to re-install.

Thanks for the update. Did Zone Alarm appear to cause any problems?

No I didn't find switching off Zone Alarm made any significant difference. My logs for 26/03 showed 9 hanging applications, and under System 2 warnings and 2 errors. It would seem I still have a problem although not so serious but very frustrating when trying to work smoothly.

Many thanks