Hey Guys,

thanks for all your responses, i am going to try all the things suggested and get back to you. just to answer a few of your questions:

No, there is nothing running in the background. No virus checker installed, no scanning software etc.

The file sizes arnt huge. the largest is 4gb, and the smallest is 72mb. Even the smaller file is jerky.

I connected my camcorder via the cable it came with, and simply transferred the files off the camera like you would with a card reader. the video files were on the card, so i simply copy and pasted them from the camera to the computer.

The laptop hasnt been defragmented lately, and im really not sure about what type of drive i am running. its a Compaq Presario C700 laptop with a 160GB hard drive.

OK im going to try your suggestions, and will post back the results when i have them. thanks again for your support guys.