I'm also having this problem. I have a feeling that it is some sort of virus. Previously, there was one virus that my virus scan program had locked into quarantine. Now when I scan, there isn't anything coming up.

I doubt very much that it has anything to do with spyware or clogged resources, as everything ran fine a couple weeks ago. Opera still runs *fine*, (locks up the first time I access a yahoo site. Is fine the second.).