Every minute or so, the mouse freezes for anywhere between 1/2 to ten
seconds. I don't know if it's a hardware problem or a software problem, but
I really think it's a software problem, and I don't know where to begin
looking. In fact, I think it's Windows Explorer, or something tied into it.

The reason why I think it's a software problem is because even though
Windows Explorer freezes while the mouse freezes, some other programs do
not. For instance, I might be playing a game, such as, say, the Unreal
Tournament 2004 Demo, and the mouse will just hang, while the action
continues. I can use the keys and keep running around, but I can't change
the direction I'm facing or fire my weapon because the mouse is busy
freezing for a few seconds. No change in frame rate. Just frozen mouse. The
mouse cable is fine.

It is the weirdest thing, only just started happening in the last few weeks,
and no, I don't remember any obvious installations I've done. (Obviously
this is caused by an installation or configuration change, I just don't know
what.)

I suppose it could also be a hardware problem, such as an IDE drive problem
perhaps, because Explorer is tied into those devices and it does freeze if
it can't read a drive. But my drives generally seem to be working fine.
Might my mapped drives over the network cause such this kind of problem?

Help? Any ideas?

Jon