@Pecan
Well, I did a virus scan and have no infections. I have anti-virus running all the time anyway on auto-update. Besides, I tested code::blocks on my second partition which is virtually a clean install of XP.
My machine is about 5 years old. It hasn't been dusted for about 3 years. When I did last clean it it casued the motherboard to fail and I had to replace it, so I keep away from the insides unless necessary. The memory has never been re-seated, but it was replaced a couple of years ago.
I can't check on another machine, I don't have one, I'm a full-time carer now so don't have a work computer anymore.
I've not got any open/save/directory find assist software -- not even sure I know what it is.
What I do have is thunderbird, firefox, winrar, roboform, nero, irfanview, virtual pc, avast! antivirus, kerio firewall, various sofware development apps, various video and photo editing apps...etc. none of which I can recall any problem with.
What I have noticed though is a few other people in the forum with the same problem as I have. This makes me feel strongly that it isn't dust or a loose memory board or a virus but a problem with code::blocks that maybe only happens with certain OS or file versions or something like that.
It would be interesting to see what the others are running code::blocks on. Mine is XP home SP2 with all recent hotfixes.
It doesn't look like we're going to solve this so I'll just have to stick with 2006/06/10 . I'll keep checking the nightly's forum to see if it ever gets solved.
Thanks for all your help anyway.