Thank you once again for your help.
I think I will just have to live with my unwanted friend and I thank you for all your advice. I agree that wiping the system is rather drastic and will not go down that path.
Thought you might be interested in the latest developments. I have been back to my tech and established that it is an active X problem with Google. Yes, they will come out, but on reflection I decided to uninstall Google Chrome. To be honest I am not bothered about gadgets etc and have returned to my trusty Firefox. Problem gone and only a few adjustments to bookmarks needed. I have also saved myself the call - out fee. I did try to reset Chrome before uninstalling, but it did not solve the problem.
