OK. I still have the flickery cursor <G>
However, I completely uninstalled AVG AV, and installed COMODO AV. It now seems to be ok. No slowing down and no crashing so far.
SO thanks for the replies.
Nick
Hope it continues to work ok for you Nick. If you have any more problems we are here to help.
I will mark this thread as resolved. If you need it reopened for any reason PM me or another moderator.
John