Windows Vista Freezing with Start > Run

For years I've thought about tinkering with Linux just to learn it.. curiosity. After I bought my brand new PC a little over a year ago and got my first taste at Vista I'm now moving away from curious and am now heading full steam ahead at abandoning Windows. I've been an advid Windows user since the days of 3.1. I'm just at my wit's end with the instability of Microsoft.

I've tried everything I know. I've manually cleaned my system out, defragged, cleaned the registry, and did more scans than a paranoid schitzophrenic, and all of Windows/software is up-to-date. Nothing seems to help.

1.) Programs locking up permenantly in background.

Firefox, Yahoo Messenger, Pidgin, etc. I'll close them out/exit but in the background they still run. I've tried "End Task ", I've tried the Process Explorer, and even went in to the DOS emulator and used the taskkill command. No effect. Only way to free them up is rebooting.

2.) Constant lockups with the most simple of tasks. I'm a big fan of using Start > Run (or Windows key + R). I'll do something as simple as that and it freezes. The box for Run says "Not Responding." If I'm lucky I can do Ctrl+Shift+Esc and end the explorer.exe task and just go to New Task and start explorer back up.

Does anyone have any tips on something I'm missing here? And please save the reply of "Reinstall Windows." If that's the only way to fix this issue then that will definatley push me more to abandon this OS.

 

Have you ruled out hardware issues?

I know windows (in any flavour) can be a little unstable but the severity of your symptoms suggests there's more going wrong than just the OS.

Rule out overheating or bad memory (use memtest but be aware although a good indicator it may sometimes report bad memory as good), before tinkering with the OS.

Also if this is your main system it would be helpful if you add your system details to your profile. Please click on the link and follow those instructions it could save some time when resolving this or further issues.

A common error is to forget to show your system details in your profile

If you do add your system specifications be sure to do the above

 

Have you turned off UAC, try turning it back on.

Vista has memory diagnostics. Look in Help and Support for "How do I know if my memory has a problem ".

Have you used a registry cleaner prior to this happening? I avoid them. Microsoft used to supply one, but stopped providing it. I stopped using them back in Windows 95. Their main task "should be" to remove dead entries, if you don't research what they want to remove, you will probably find they will take out many live ones as well.

Did you try uninstalling programs like those that might have come supplied with the computer? Did any programs not uninstall correctly? Try running Windows Installer Cleanup Utility (you can download it from the MS website).

If you look at installing Service Packs, get driver and software updates from the computer or hardware manufacturer's website first.

To run some programs correctly in Vista you need to right-click on the .exe and select "Run as administrator ".

You can go to msconfig, disable the startup programs and check if one is causing it.

Go to Task Manager and check the CPU usage. See if one program or process is causing very high usage.

Matt

 

I have used registry cleaners in the past. Mainly Glary Utilities. As for uninstalling I've used Revo Uninstaller. I've had to use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to uninstall Adobe Reader and CS5. Very stubborn software to get out of your system. Took quite a task to uninstall ZoneAlarm. The new version does not work well at all and once uninstalled leaves tons of pieces of itself behind.

As for updates I use the Windows updates but never for hardware or software that is not Microsoft. I go to the vendor's website for those updates.

I've removed quite a few things from my startup via msconfig. Lots of programs wanting to startup when the computer starts up.

 

Which programs want to start up with the computer and results from memtest/ Temperature readings?

 

I am very, very wary of utilities. The first one I used (when I first started "computing ") was Norton Utilities and Windows was so completely corrupted, I just reformatted. After that I researched every modification a registry editing program wanted to make, but now I never use one unless I suspect it might be causing a problem and then I would look for a highly reputable "manual" method, rather than a general (cleaning) utility.

I suggested CCleaner to my friend when he was running out of space. He also used it to clean the registry and then lost all function in the Control Panel. I had to repair the system. Utilities are extremely powerful, if they do damage to Windows, you can't blame Windows for that.

So what do I do? If a program doesn't seem to be uninstalled correctly, I install it again and then uninstall it. If that doesn't work, I go to the supplier's website and look for information or maybe a "tool" to remove it. After that I do websearches for reliable information. I might do a scan with a registry cleaner, but research any findings.

If I did a scan now I expect there may be 50 - 100 registry entries, but my system is working really well so I wouldn't touch it.

I think very carefully before I install anything and use my crystal ball to consider if it may need to be uninstalled somewhere in the future. I don't install anything if I don't think I really need it and I might research to see if anyone is having trouble with the program.

Anyway, that's my method.

See how you go with our other suggestions.

Matt