Quote Originally Posted by ZedBed
I had exaclty the same problem. Right click "my computer" select properties, then the hardware tab and device manager, under "network adapters" I have a network card and something called "1394 Network adapter" which turns out to be the firewire port (for video cameras and the like). I disabled it and hey presto all fixed. I was also having problem using Autocad which wouldn't pan or zoom. That problem is also solved. Hope this works for you.
Me too. Exact same 30 second deleting operation for sending stuff to recycle bin. I disabled "1394 Network adapter" and now it's back to normal. No idea why-how would you ever guess it was a firewire port in the first place?

Thanks for the tip. Just in case others follow, I have a local built XP Pro 1GB AMD system and the firewire card was added later. Again many thanks.