Question re: strange Dr Watson errors

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain (More info?)

Often when going to Start/Control Panel and on to Performance and
Maintenance the screen freezes and I get pop-ups to send error reports. In
Ctrl/Alt/Delete "Control Panel - not responding". What would cause this?
Also happens periodically when using Help and Support.
Possible remedies? I also notice often exiting applications such as IE or
OE the desktop often blanks for a moment then reappears with the icons
slowly appearing.
Ran virus/spyware checks...nothing found.

--
Peter.
Toronto, Canada.
XP Home SP2.
P4 Dual HT @ 3.0ghz, 160gb HD, 1.0gb DDR.