PC 'Freezing'-Help!

This is really annoying and stupid.
I have 512mb RAM, but if i have, lets say 4, Internet Explorer windows open, my computer just sort of freezes. What happens is the mosue starts moving in a jaggy way, and i cant click anything. Sometimes it stays like this, sometimes it comes back to normal in about 5 mins.
I try ctrl alt del, and nothing happens.

I've tried defraging, still same problem.

So what can i do? Sometimes it happens when i'm doing important work, and it is obviously very frustrating.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Oh yea, i have XP Pro
512mb RAM
anything else you need to know?

 

Not much to go on here!

For starts you can clean up so do the following step by step.

Configure CleanMgr to max settings
Go to Start-Run and type

cleanmgr /sageset:1
The above need only be ran once (these settings will be remembered as the default until another sageset is ran).

It will present a menu select all except compress, then

Go to Start-Run and type

cleanmgr /sagerun:1
As long as /sageset above has been ran on this computer from now on the /sagerun is the only thing that needs to run.

Then

Registry and System cleaners

RegCleaner http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml
Look in first 2 cols for programs you thought you uninstalled or removed, these are the dregs left by the uninstaller. Also tag and remove any that you are POSITIVE are not supposed to be on your computer. After removing these go to the top Tools-Registry Cleanup-Do them all. Delete all it finds.

EasyClean1.7 http://gswi.com/downloads.htm
Run only unnecessary files and registry clean delete all it finds. If you have ME or XP in the "Unnessesary Files" type the word HELP in the skip box. Do not do Duplicate files!

RegScrubXP http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware/RegScrubXP/RegScrubXP.htm
NOTE: W2K and XP only!

Select RegScrub finds problems and remove all it finds.

Lastly get rid of Spy/Adware.

Spyware and adware removal

SpyBot http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download
Run this twice delete all it finds, "ALWAYS" run this before AdAware.
Leave all it wants to leave after the second run.

AdAware 6.0 http://www.lavasoft.com/
Run only after SpyBot!
Make sure to configure to Max settings, all files and compressed files.Delete all it finds

BHO Demon http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm
A BHO is like a autostart/startup that only runs when you run the Browser.
This program runs stand alone no install is required post me the items it finds other than the below. Normal entries here would be Acrobat Reader or Norton Anti virus.

All of the above you should already have to maintain stability and performance. Do these and you will notice a definate difference.

Mike

 

That shopping list of Mike's certainly will help most any system run better.

If you want to see exactly what is taking over your PC, after a reboot do Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up the Windows Task Manager. Go to Options and set it to be always on top. Then click on the Processes tab and sort the display by CPU with the higher numbers at the top. that should show you what process is taking over.]

If not - i.e., you don't have anything taking lots of CPU cycles but are still having trouble, click the Performance tab. Note that if your PC is really busy it may take seconds to a minute or two to change screens but it will. See what is hogging things on there. And maybe then to the networking tab (I have it on XP-pro and hope XP-Home has it as well).

 

Lol!

Shopping list! You crack me up!

If you gonna bake a cake get the stuff to bake a dad gum cake! Smile!

Mike

 

WOW!

I wasn't expecting this much help. I havent tried anything yet, but i just wanted to say thanks for taking time to write that 'essay'.

 

Hi Mo

Been there, but with XP, I've learned... patience, patience, stop pushing buttons. When a lockup displays itself, methodical ctrl/alt/del and take a l o n g bathroom break. In MOST cases you will get task list up, just takes time. Once up check the CPU list for a +90's something (excluding "System Idle Process "). Although the sky is the limit to which program is causing it.. for me Acrobat/.pdf is still an issue with XP's.... but just some times.

 

BHODemon found:
AcrolEHelper.ocx
iCapture.dll
PKExt.dll
googletoolbar.dll
and
NavShExt.dll (which i think is Norton AntiVirus)

 

No problem with the BHO's.

AcrolEHelper.ocx = Adobe Acrobat
iCapture.dll = Macro express
PKExt.dll = Macro Express
googletoolbar.dll = Google
and
NavShExt.dll (which i think is Norton AntiVirus) = yes

Now give us a status report. Still have problems?

Mike

 

still same, but it doesn't stay frozen for as long as it before

 

Hi Mo

Ok so now we have a clean slate, so lets look a little closer. Download and run the below and get back with the results.

<http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/startuplist.zip>
StartupList does nothing but grab all Autoload (startups) and puts them in a Wordpad file so that you can then copy it and paste it back to us in a message so that we can advise on a problem here.


Mike

 

it won't let me post it all here, so i uploaded it to a site...
Startup List

 

Jeezzee

Wish I hadn't asked! Smile!

No wonder!

One thing that will help is another 512 of ram?

But I will get back tonight with some other suggestions, headed to the office now. Slight chance (very) I may get to check in from there. Busy day ahead!

mike

 

Ok Mo

Don't take this wrong, but no damm wonder your computer freezes. It is Constipated.

Do you really use all that stuff?

You need ctfmon?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=282599

quicktime in memory?

winzip in memory?

Systems works?? ?rap! Probably your problem!

Uninstall it! Then use the CD it came on as a coffee cup coaster!

Do you use both Yahoo and msn messenger?

So start with a good way to control them

Startup control
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

This gives simple and full control of what starts at boot up. After install there will be a Startup icon in control panel. Why this over Msconfig? Msconfig only allows unchecking/disabling of items. Startup Control panel allows deleting items or moving from startup to run as a service etc.

After you get the above use it!

Mike

 

Thankyou so much for your help mflynn.

The problem seems to have gone now. well, it may not have gone but it hasn't happened since your last post.

So once again thankyou for all your help, time and effort.

 

Hi Mo,
I also had the "slow as molasses" syndrome after installing Windows Update Patch Q811493.

After reading the following article http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9034 from the Inquirer I uninstalled the patch and my computer is as fast as ever.

From the article ....WINDOWS UPDATE USERS and prudent sys admins might have installed the latest Windows patch without a thought. That might not have been such a good idea. The patch is meant to fix a hole in Windows Messaging but can end up causing a severe performance degradation.
The patch, which we wrote about here, has been causing grief for many users. If you have Windows Update running on automatic and you're experiencing a nasty slowdown on your system, you might want to try removing patch 811493. Users with the performance problems report that removing the patch fixes things.

The patch fixes a relatively minor security problem where an attacker would have to have physical access to the machine.

 

Excellent post Barb! Good site!

MO you definately need to see if this applies to you if you have another incident.

Mike

 

the thing is, i never actually downloaded that update.

so, still no idea what causes it. It seems to be OK at the moment though

 

Patch

Hi

I have read all the postings about 811493 ....... I too have noticed things on the slow down !!

I followed the link above to the article & was going to uninstall immediatley. I have held back to ask advice ( please )

The links to Google info. on this patch - one person states that he uninstalled the patch & could not boot into Windows

Has anyone else had this happen ? I was going to use add/remove programs to uninstall - is this correct or should I do a reg. clean also ?

I certainly do not want to find I can't boot - hopefully no-one else has had this happen when they uninstalled the patch !

I will wait now until I read more about M$ patches ' Critical '
or not

 

I haven't heard this to be a recuring problem. There is always a slight possibility

As for a reg clean, always a good idea after uninstalling anything it is just good house keeping. I am not talking about a maunal registy cleanup. I am talking here of a regcleaner like

Registry and System cleaners

RegCleaner <http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml>

Look in first 2 cols for programs you thought you uninstalled or removed, these are the dregs left by an uninstaller.

Also tag and remove any that you are "POSITIVE" are not supposed to be on your computer.

After removing these go to the top Tools-Registry Cleanup-Do them all. Delete all it finds.


EasyClean1.7 <http://gswi.com/downloads.htm>

Run only unnecessary files and registry clean delete all it finds. If you have ME or XP in the "Unnessesary Files" type the word HELP in the skip box. Do not do Duplicate files!

RegScrubXP http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware/RegScrubXP/RegScrubXP.htm

NOTE: W2K and XP only

Select RegScrub finds problems and remove all it finds.

Mike

 

reply to miniB

big link here http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6595127~root=winme~mode=flat

Lots of people agree that this update was slowing down their computers. Most have had no ill effects un-installing it.