Boots up ok,  That's not the issue.

I wait about 3 min for everything to settle down.  Mouse "arrow" works normally but as soon as I click on any program (might be firefox or excel or a pdf file) but it doesn't matter--any program will do), whole system locks up.  BUT the mouse arrow still moves freely. 

Or I can hit windows key to get that to come up but nothing happens.  Cntrl alt del will not bring up anything either. At any point in time.

Have to do a warm boot.

I wait a bit to settle it down.  But this time instead of using the mouse, I use windows key.  So far so good.  It opens and lists the usual stuff. I navigate (arrow keys, not mouse) to any program, hit enter and bam, freezes again.  Mouse arrow still moves freely but nothing activates. Have to warm boot again.

This time I go into safe mode, all stuff works fine.  Do a virus check, it pulls a bunch of stuff into the vault but I believe they are all false positives as they relate to comodo firewall that I've had for ages with no issues.

I have NOT upgraded AVG to version 9 (still using 8.whatever).

I'm currently doing this message in safe mode.

I re-boot and let it start in normal windows.  Try a program again.  Freezes as previously described.

Nothing new has been downloaded. 

I can't check what's running (if anything) because as soon as I hit the 3-keys, it locks up.

SO I prevented a few programs from starting at boot (MBM5, real player update, crap like that).  Boots as described.

But now,  I can finally get task manager (cntrl alt del) to come up.  Only activity showing is idle process at 98%.  AVG stuff using about 1-2%.  That's it, nothing else is running.

Try to open a pdf file-->the arrow turns into the hourglass.  I can still move that around but nothing happens.  No access to other programs, no task mgr, nada.

I can do everything in safe mode, just not "regular" mode.

Ideas??

(computer hw details upon request but I don't believe that's the issue).

Your post in now several weeks old. Is the problem resolved?

Seeing that everything works in safe mode seems to rule out hardware problems like overheating or bad RAM. Lack of info about your hardware and software make it impossible to provide a solution other than to do the usual: check Device Manager for red flags, swap ram slots, check temps. I have been stymied by something as simple as a plug not inserted properly or accidentally pulled out.

You say nothing was downloaded, but something has changed. A lot of programs have automatic updates that you may not have been aware of that are now causing a conflict.

If I run into an unsolvable problem I do the entire, fresh reinstall one piece of software at a time, doing a system image backup at each step until the problem resurfaces. The image backup allows me to avoid the hours of reinstalling.

Ya, I'm sorry I didn't get back. Even though I couldn't find a virus, I did a system restore as the simplest, first on the list fix.

There must have been something bad in there because the restore worked and no more issues.

Thanks for asking