Thanks Greysts, I think I might have information that could help, but first.

I have restored the system to Mar.1st 08 which is the day after the IT work had been done. I think it is running better but I'm not convinced.

Yes, I know I'm in the wrong by not heeding advice.

As for what did I tick. I am fairly certain that within this website, I saw a tip for improving speed. There was a link to a website where there were about half a dozen options to choose from. I'm sure I chose improved speed/computer. Somewhere at the back of my mind, it could have been a FF add-on.

What I have done to try and find a link/clue, is look at a great many threads on this site. I noticed that wherever I clicked, the red banner with the WebUser logo appeared and the page was white, the blue loading bar at the bottom of the page shot across and stopped within an eighth of an inch where it waited about 10/15 seconds before loading completely then the page appeared.

Now this oddity may be similar to other websites where I get "timed out" quite a lot.

I'm throwing this info to you in the hope it may be of use.