Windlows loads but nothing happens

[CHayes1126]

I turned off my computer last night, didnt install anything or change any settings. When I woke up and turned my computer on, everything loaded fine. After windows loaded I went to click on Internet Explorer and nothing happened. I thought strange so I tried My Computer, again nothing happened. I thought maybe it was spyware so I tried loading adaware again nothing happened. I restarted and again got the same thing to happen. I sat there this time for a good 10-15 min and finally everything loaded all at once. IE came up adaware and everything else I clicked on. Does anyone know what may be happening? I have adaware and spybot all up to date and recently ran. I also recently updated norton. Any help would be appreciated.

[rjfvillarosa]

Three things spring to mind. A virus (Norton is not one of my favourites these days), malware/spyware (follow the thread in the securities forum and do the prerequisite for HJT and post a log back here) or, it was "Update Tuesday" this week and if Windows hasn't done an update in a while that can take over your computer for five minutes or so.
Before you do anything I would just watch the machine for a day or two to see if it does it again or if it was just a one off.