OK,,,, all sorted and here is a little bit of info.....
the problem is due to Internet Explorer 4 and above needing to save some settings within your user profiles.
Outlook Express
Media Player
Desktop Update
etc...
this info is stored in the HKLM part of the registry and when you log on a new user there is a check to compare this info with the same info in the user profile part of the user.dat (or MAN) file.... obviously this info can't be written to the profile...
having spent a long time rewording Google searches I found the following info on Microsofts site...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q238441
I checked this on 4 computers and identified that there are around 16 STUBPATH links. I saved these as reg files and created a new reg file to delete the STUBPATH links at computer startup..
I tested this on a class of 25 computers.. which all worked fine including removing the 'Setting up personalised settings for ....." scripts that the user sees at logon...
my newly created profiles now breeze through the logon process..
here are the reg deletion details, I attach the reg file so anyone who wants it can have it ,
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{2C7339CF-2B09-4501-B3F3-F3508C9228ED}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{4b218e3e-bc98-4770-93d3-2731b9329278}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{6BF52A52-394A-11d3-B153-00C04F79FAA6}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA842-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015B}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\>{60B49E34-C7CC-11D0-8953-00A0C90347FF}MICROS]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{73FA19D0-2D75-11D2-995D-00C04F98BBC9}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{89B4C1CD-B018-4511-B0A1-5476DBF70820}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\>{881dd1c5-3dcf-431b-b061-f3f88e8be88a}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{2179C5D3-EBFF-11CF-B6FD-00AA00B4E220}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{5945c046-1e7d-11d1-bc44-00c04fd912be}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\>{26923b43-4d38-484f-9b9e-de460746276c}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{7790769C-0471-11d2-AF11-00C04FA35D02}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383}]
"StubPath"
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4340}]
"StubPath"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I can only assume that this script will also cover IE7 but haven't tested it as yet..
Good luck
Chris