But I've done a lot of downloading previously and never experienced this to my knowledge -- I'm pretty sure I haven't -- now I suddenly notice it at the same time for at least two files, possibly more. And it seems pretty severe. 90% of a 500 MB file down to 40% for one. And the amount that it back tracks varies each time I try (I'm using a backed up version of the downloads file so I can back track, but it looks like I may not have an old enough back up).

Thanks for the answer though. Could a starting to go wrong hard drive cause this? Got a horrible feeling that may be it. I used Data Recovery II to do a check drive or analyse drive, whatever it's called, and it's OK in that there were no out right errors, but the read time for a few sections were very high, which indicates I think the drive may be on it's way out -- possibly. It wasn't conclusive at all though.

Thanks.