New laptop -- no audio, programs freeze

Hi,

I bought a Dell Studio 1558 last week, with Windows 7 Home Premium. Memory is 4GB; processor Intel (R) Core i5 CPU M 430@2.27 GHz; Sophos antivirus; MS Works.

Two problems:

1. Programs freeze. I don't use heavy graphic-based programs or games only Word Processor. Even Gmail freezes. Simple things like Skype refuse to sign me in or freeze.
2. The audio has started to go off in the last three days, unless I reboot.

The IT guys in my University (Oxford) ran a hard disc scan and found nothing. Pardon my ignorance about IT matters, but I'll be glad if someone explains to me in simple language what the problem could be and how to go about it.

thanks,
J

My University installed Sophos antivirus and removed McAfee in the last week. Apart from that, I've only installed Skype. Problem is from the first day.

I forgot to mention that each time I shut down the computer, I get a message 'explorer.exe waiting for log off sound'. Nothing happens and I have to force the shut down. There's something terribly wrong with the sound because, on Skype, the other person cannot hear me 8 of 10 times and sometimes when the computer starts I hear a 'crrrrrr' sound instead of the welcome sound of MS.

June

Yes, I have run Windows Update. There have been around 30-35 updates since I bought the laptop 10 days ago. Do you think there could be a problem in there?

June

Had the same problem on my HP Pavilion dv6.

Just updated to the latest drivers and all went back to normal