Now that I've seen multipel users having this problem (which is NOT normal Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP behaviour), here's a few things to do.
1) Run a virus scanner. Set it to scan all files.
2) Run an adware/spyware scanner (some of these programs do this to convince you to buy their "special" scanning software). I suggest Ad-Aware 6 and/or Spybot Search and Destroy.
3) Run Scandisk (or the WinXP equivalent) and Disk Defragmenter.
4) Get FreshUI from
www.freshdevices.com and check some of the advanced settings to see if some computer privileges have been changed somehow (WARNING: Do NOT mess with this program unless you're a power user and know what you are doing. If you know what you're doing, you can use this program to massively boost any computer's performance. If you don't know what you are doing you can KILL YOUR COMPUTER!)
And your comment about people hating Windows, again, this is NOT normal Windows-family OS behaviour... There are plenty of other reasons to hate Windows and Micro$haft <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />