Start Bar freezing/System Lock-up

[Alex]

Ok i've been having an issue now for a few months and it
is really starting to drive me insane.

For no reason, leately my WinXP has been freezing.
Basically what happens is that randomly (and I say that
because i didn't install anything new, and it happens with
a varying number of programs open) the start-bar freezes
completely, allowing me to view whatever program is
opening, and allowing me to ONLY switch programs that are
open using the task manager. However, after a few minutes
the entire computer freezes with no error message. In the
task manager it says that all programs are "running" and
never gives me anything else. Not a single error message
or anything.

I've noticed it commonly happens when I'm online using AOL
9.0 while using Internet Explorer to browse the web, but
it has happened while using other programs.

Does ANYONE have any idea how to solve this issue? Some
nights I have to restart my computer 10-20 times!!

I'm using a P4 2.00GHz with 256Megs of ram and 40Gig

 

[nkjg]

Have you run anti-virus scans and adware/syware scans?

Ad-Aware
www.lavasoftusa.com

Spybot Search&Destroy
www.safer-networking.org

Hope this helps.

Nick
(e-mail address removed)