Applications freeze when saving files

This is a very strange behavior I haven't encountered before: The window that allows you to specify where a file is to be saved does not appear and the application (trying to save the file) freezes. About the time you would expect the file browser window to appear, the applcation stops responding.

In particular, I have noticed this when trying to download files (IE 7 and Firefox) and when trying to print to "Adobe PDF" (which prints to a file). This does not happen when performing a "save as" in Word or Excel.

Perhaps coincidentally, I cannot burn to CDs within Windows, although Windows recognizes the drives and the CDs as writable. I don't know if these issues are related.

Thanks for any insights!

 

Application not exactly freezing, just waiting...

A couple of insights:

1. The application doesn't freeze, it just takes a very very very long time for the file explorer dialog to come up.

2. I think the CD burning issue is unrelated. Burning through Nero works fine.