Problem with Vista and games

Hi, using a Dell Inspiron 1520, Vista SP1 x86, NVIDIA driver 174.31, all other drivers are up to date. If I play _any_ game (Steam/CS, Spore, Quake, whatever) it works fine in-game. But when I quit the game, explorer.exe is using 50% of the CPU, and it has hanged. I can't even kill it in the task manager. The start menu doesn't work, nothing works... The only thing I can do is start the task manager (ctrl+shift+escape) and run a new command: explorer. Then I get back my start menu and system tray etc. But if I try to open any window, say start > computer, then that explorer.exe will hang too. I can kill that, but I have to start another explorer.exe.

In other words, as long as I don't play any games, things work as the should.

Any idea on how I can solve this? My internet connection is very slow, but I'm downloading the 175.80 drivers to see if they solve the problem.

BTW the gfx is a 8600M GT.

A big thanks to anyone who can help me solve this!!!

 

How are you playing Spore when it's not out yet?

1) You might to check for Spyware, Trojans or Viruses.

2) If everything checks out ok, it could be a Steam issue and that's one reason why I don't buy Steam related products. Many gamers have had problems related to Steam including performance drops even without playing a Steam game.

 

I meant the Spore Creature Creation demo.

No trojans or other crap.

I reinstalled with XP, and everything just works (tm) now. The battlefield 2 patch just installed directly with no issues whatsoever.

Also, the computer feels twice as fast. What has Vista to offer me except slowdowns and a fancy interface? Nothing!

Happy now.