Word freezes after typing a few words

Help! The last couple of days microsoft word has been freezing after i type a couple of words it then unfreezes and i can type anothe couple of words before it freezes again. I have windows XP. The computer has been running slightly slower than usual ever since i got a new virus scanner (Zone alarm security suite) about a month ago. I had problems with stuff not opening but a computer guy came and they went away but now it is back. Yes i have restarted etc. Just updated java don't know if that is related (don't even know what java is but the update screen came up so i updated). also had some google products (google talk, google toolbar) which i deleted.

ps. unrelated to previous problem with word opening then closing straight away. that was on a different computer.

I looks like one of my files got corrupted after i got fustrated and pulled out my USB drive any ways to recover it?

It would seem that at start-up the virus scanner is scanning for viruses for a while. i can only assume that this is why the CPU usage stays at 100% therefore making every other program on the computer run extremely slowly. I probably just need to change some settings to stop this from happening. Still wondering if it is possible to recover those corrupted files or will i have to start from scratch.

[edit on 6-9-2006 by ajh91]

Strange as it may seam, it is easier to recover a deleted file than a corrupted file.

The problem is that the file is still a normal file, the type of data that it holds is not usable, do there is no way of recovering the "good" version unless you had a copy or if you could roll back the file to a previous situation (this will be (is) possible with Windows Vista).

looks like i'll have to start from scratch the but thanks anyway