I don't think the age of your pc matters just looking at this. My better
half(my wife)has a new laptop this year and it does the same thing. She has
been told that it possibly is a bad hard drive. Her updates are current(she
has xpsp2)and all updates as of today(22Aug06). One thing I do notice on it,
and it may be in your case, when she runs this on my broadband, it doesn't
lock up. When she is on a dial-up server, it does it all the time. You might
have a go at PC Pitstop and have a systems check done on your computer. Its
free, and it shows you at the end what improvements you need to make. I have
used it and it does let you know what things to do to help a faulty pc. If
you have a hour or so, log on to it and see what it recommends. You never
said if you do disk cleanups or defrags on a routine basis, and also do some
scandisk checks to try to find and repair disk errors, full checks if
possible. Also try to remove any programs that you don't use on a regular
basis. Just make sure they aren't connected to your Windows programs.
You should also try to only use one firewall on your pc. Windows has one
installed on your operating system. If you have another one by your antivirus
program, you need to make sure you use only one or the other. Not both. You
paid good money for the Zone Alarm Pro, so you probably want to disable the
windows version, go to control panel and locate it and disable the windows
firewall. As long as you have a good anti virus program and one firewall this
should be sufficient. If you use two or more firewalls they kind of get upset
and fight each other for business so to speak. I have only one, with my
McAfee anti virus and I have no problems. Nortons is a good one too. I am not
familiar with avast. Sounds generic, or something you downloaded off the
internet. Give some of these suggestions a try. You have far more RAM and
larger hard drive than I have. But you maybe into gaming more than me. Make
sure you have XP service pack 2 installed. Make sure your IE is up to date,
meaning IE6 or higher. Lastly make sure you keep up with all of Microsoft
Updates. One missing update can create all sorts of problems down the line.If
it is just a hard drive malfunction, it will cost you a lot less than buying
a new system. Just you will have to spend time reloading programs. Hard
drives act up all the time. Just give yourself some time to check these items
first. If this information helps then it was worth it to you. Have fun.
