This has started recently: My PC goes through the first startup and login steps no problem. When it gets to the point after the desktop appears, the Netgear wireless Internet connection box appears, and I click Close to make it go away. Everthing looks normal. However, if I click once on any of the desktop shortcut icons, they do not highlight as usual, and they will not respond to double clicking. The task bar, which is set to appear when I move my mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen, does not respond or appear. The temporary fix: If I invoke the Task Manager via Ctrl-Alt-Delete, it will appear a briefly also be unresponsive to attempts to click any of the buttons. After about four seconds, if I click on Task Manager, that breaks the freeze in the desktop and task bar, and I can use the PC normally.Notes: I maintain this PC carefully. All the latest service packs and updates, regular use of the Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter tools, a secure firewall and virus scanner (Norton 360 Premier Edition), and Malwarebytes software running nightly scans. I have gone through the startup processes looking for a problem there without finding a culprit. Installed software and fonts kept to a minimum.The Event Viewer shows 15 errors during startup, most regarding the Remote Access Connection Manager service not starting. I remember disabling this startup process for security reasons. I used one of the Windows XP administrative tools because I can't get msconfig to work without a message saying I need administrative privileges despite the fact that I am already logged in using the administrator account. 1 person needs an answerI do too