XP locking/freezing up randomly

[Emily]

OK, the past two days my system has been freezing and
locking up ALL THE TIME. I'm not doing any more than
usual. For weeks prior I've been surfing the net,
seeding torrents, and watching videos all at the same
time and it's been perfect, and all of a sudden my
computer's been freezing in explorer, internet explorer,
and Opera windows. I hope somebody can offer me some
helpful suggestions, i ran scandisk and adaware and i'm
thinking about defragging, but i'm at my wit's end.

 

[Guest]

OK, the past two days my system has been freezing and
locking up ALL THE TIME. I'm not doing any more than
usual. For weeks prior I've been surfing the net,
seeding torrents, and watching videos all at the same
time and it's been perfect, and all of a sudden my
computer's been freezing in explorer, internet explorer,
and Opera windows. I hope somebody can offer me some
helpful suggestions, i ran scandisk and adaware and i'm
thinking about defragging, but i'm at my wit's end.

Hello Emily and greetings from England,

When was the last time you cleared your browser cache and deleted cookies
and temporary internet files. Most freezing and running slow problems are
caused by poor computer house-keeping and defragging will only move those
unnecessary files around.

Roger Lemon,
Newport Pagnell
UK

here to learn but chipping in the odd opinion

 

[Swaff]

-----Original Message-----
OK, the past two days my system has been freezing and
locking up ALL THE TIME. I'm not doing any more than
usual. For weeks prior I've been surfing the net,
seeding torrents, and watching videos all at the same
time and it's been perfect, and all of a sudden my
computer's been freezing in explorer, internet explorer,
and Opera windows. I hope somebody can offer me some
helpful suggestions, i ran scandisk and adaware and i'm
thinking about defragging, but i'm at my wit's end.
.

Emily,

Have you done a recent upgrade? What type of computer are
you running on? Have you downloaded any files or
installed any games?


inquiring minds need to know.

Swaff -)

 

[Rock]

OK, the past two days my system has been freezing and
locking up ALL THE TIME. I'm not doing any more than
usual. For weeks prior I've been surfing the net,
seeding torrents, and watching videos all at the same
time and it's been perfect, and all of a sudden my
computer's been freezing in explorer, internet explorer,
and Opera windows. I hope somebody can offer me some
helpful suggestions, i ran scandisk and adaware and i'm
thinking about defragging, but i'm at my wit's end.

Do some housecleaning, defrag, disk cleanup. Check for malware.

Run these programs to check for spyware/malware. After installing
update them, then boot into safe mode and run them. You should update
and run them weekly.

Cwshredder
http://aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#cwshred

Ad-aware SE
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10247783.html

After your system is clean use these programs to help keep it clean:

Spywareblaster
www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

Spywareguard
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html

IE-SPYAD
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm

For viruses:

Online and Downloadable Virus Scanning:

Bit Defender Online Virus Scan:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

Symantec Online Virus and Security Scan:
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp

TrendMicro:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

McAfee Online Virus Scan:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

RAV AntiVirus - Scan Online
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

McAfee AVert Stinger Virus Removal Tool
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

Make sure you have a firewall active at all times. If nothing else use
the one built into XP, but there are a variety of free third party ones
that do a better job from Sygate, Zone Alarm or Kerio.

Sygate Personal Firewall
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Zone Alarm
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=staticcomp_za

Kerio Personal Firewall
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

Lastly check your system for vulnerabilities. Make sure you have all
the latest security patches from Windows Update too.

Websites which will check for vulnerabilities:

Browser Security Tests:
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
https://testzone.secunia.com/browser_checker/
www.pcpitstop.com