[SOLVED] Windows 7 Not Responding / Lockup

I have the "not responding " for ages. Have tried all the so called solutions etc to no avail. Now it is getting worse. It even happened while in "safe mode" no message justt he disk light on solid and pc frozen. Had to turn the pc off to break the frozen state. It restarted and I took the aotomatic repair option. Came back with couldnt fix the problem.

Tried several times but no solution. Only option was to do a restore which took ages to do, but it eventually worked.

I believe the problem is in windows 7 as Windows Live will often come up with the "not responding" when starting the pc and nothing else is running. Using "resource monitor" it always is "explorer" that gets the message. I have removed all the other software eg Mcafee security, plus all other software and only run windows applications plus Yahoo Messenger. I did stop Yahoo throught the services screen and restarted but I still got the
not responding" message.

I didnt have this message when the pc was purchased.

My last resort is to re install windows 7 and see if the message occurs again.

I am reluctant to do this as I am not a pc expert and not sure how to go about it etc. My main concern is what to do after re installing windows 7. Do i have to load my graphics and motherboard cd to get drivers or ???. I do have all the cd's etc.

If no one has a solution could someone give me a "To do list" to follow re starting from reinstalling windows 7 etc

Is it possible to re install windows 7 without having to reformat the drive etc ?? Is this the best way or does it have problems.

Is reformatting the drive the best way ??

My pc is as follows:

Intel I5 750 cpu
Gigabyte motherboard P55 ud4p
Gigabyyte Graphics 260oc Gtx
western didgital 500GB
4gb Corasir memory
windows 7 Home Premium

Thanks in advance, for what ever help comes my way.