Internet Explorer 7 freezes regularly!

[#1]

My internet explorer screen has started to freeze on regular basis and it is driving me mad!  I cannot do anything with it................... happens sometimes on main screen but then it will always do it if I try to access a link that is say mentioned on a Forum post, or email.  Not sure why it has started to do this.
Can anyone help - is there a better browser I can download free which will work consistently or do I need to do something wuith IE?

[#2]

You could try Chrome?
That's generally pretty nippy for everything.

[#3]

Try running it with 'no-add ons' first, find it under Programs > Accessories > System Tools
That should indicate whether it is core IE or something else.
If you have Google toolbar installed I'd put my money on that
And don't listen to James, Firefox over Chrome 

[#4]

I have had a Google toolbar for ages but had not problems until last few weeks!
No add ons is in force.
How do I get Firefox please?

[#5]

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

[#6]

Have a look here http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/
SWMBO had issues with Acrobat as well, so I put Foxit reader on and that seems to work better now as well.
EDIT: Jim has his quick fingers on today 

[#7]

http://www.getfirefox.com

[#8]

Thank you for that - will change over I think!
also going to download differnt virus checker - think will try Avast as AVG have finally given up updates on 7.5!  So will try and do these  later today.

[#9]

I'd choose Chrome over Firefox any day (and Opera over Firefox too).  Over the years it has become bloated and buggy and with the recent spat between plug-in developers adding code to their plugins to outwit another plugin (adblock vs noscript) it is losing its "trusted" badge (two of the biggest plugins for firefox, adblock put in code specific to removing adds from noscript, noscript put in code specific to ensuring adblock didn't work on its website)
Chrome is much faster and had the added bonus of being able to drag a webpage to the desktop and its treated like an app (use gmail? its much better for that).  Add on the fact it is run in a sandbox with each tab given its own process, chrome was the only browser to not get cracked in the pwn2own contest recently.  Plus chrome has that basic look.  Mind you, I prefer IE8 on Win7 over all of them

[#10]

But with Chrome you have the awful google updater and the wonderful EULA which allows them to note all that you do..

[#11]

Didn't they update the EULA because it was a cut and paste job from something else?  There is an option if you *really* dislike the Google part, as its open source some nice chaps reworked it and removed everything Google.
I'm more into having a browser open up quickly, FF is just so slow these days.  My only gripe with Chrome is, it doesn't work very well on x64, you have to turn off sandbox, but if I'm watching stuff with flash I'll use it, its also much better at Ajax than IE which sucks up CPU time and slows it down to a crawl.  For Linux I prefer Opera over FF, same with OSX, but for Windows, IE8 rocks