Thanks Richard and others for the advice... I checked out this link and used the suggestion of checking the 'Startup Items'... I first turned them off and all seemed to be ok... I then added the Mail programme and this seemed to be causing the problem and indeed it seemed to be the large number of stored messages... I deleted a large number and lo and behold the problem seemed to have gone... I then added all the other Start up Items and all seems now to be ok... Thanks again for the help... Paul On Apr 27, 2010, at 2:23 PM, rbliss00@xxxxxxxxxx wrote: > ....... > This link has some other options. > http://forums.macnn.com/58/imac-emac-and-mac-mini/404931/startup- > issues-blue-screen-w-cursor/ > > Richard > --- Manage your account options at //www.freelists.org/list/muglo