trouble booting up

[bettyirene]

Over the past week when I turn my pc on it only loads so far, usually as far as the wallpaper then none of the programs comeup occasionly it just stops at the blank screen. If I turn the pc off by the switch on the back it usually boots alright the 2nd or 3rd time. I was told by a friend I should run the recovery disc as it's a windows problem, any ideaswould be welcome as I don't want to do recovery unless I have to.
Not very tech. explanation sorry.

I press start on the ON button of PC, it will run to the first Paragraph of the BIOS screen, but won't run to the next bit- Processor info etc- and make the natural leap to Windows. :arrow:

it gets stuck and thats it Dos wo't work or anything...... :?

:idea: If however i turn off and on at the mains and try it- guess what it works fine! It is intermitent - is this a Power problem?? What would cause this to work after a mains switch off?

Please help!

smudge.1969@hotmail.co.uk