Hi there Shay,

Many thanks for the response. Yes, I looked at all the Windows settings to no avail , but you have given me an idea though.....................because this was bought with pre-installed software I haven't looked at the BIOS settings, there might be something there?

I bought it without an operating system and installed Windows 7 Home Premium myself. I have this Compaq CQ61-420US (yeah! a grey import from Alabama ) that runs the same OS; as well as three tower systems, one with Home Premium, one with Pro and one with Ultimate, and an Asus netbook with Starter. None of these show the same behaviour.

I have heard that some machines do have this as a feature, but only associated this with expensive professional "road warriors'" kit. This sort of makes sense to me for people who are using their laptops in public places and on airplanes?

I just thought I ought to mention it for people who find the behaviour unusual...............if it didn't do it from the start, and suddenly begins to, then you probably have malware, otherwise it is probably OK, just Google to see if others have the same experience.