Computer freeze

Hi

For the last few months my computer as started to freeze randomly, some days it doesn't happen, some days it does and one day it happened like 4-5 times in a row. It can happen when I am watching a film through VLC or on the internet or playing a game. Pretty certain its not a virus thing because my computer has got McAfee set up so it auto maintains itself. I am running Vista also. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Lee

Edit: Also I have two hard drives both 150GB Seagate Barracuda's.

 

You did not mention if/or you do maintenance ... defrag,disk cleanup etc....?

A very handy program is ccleaner available right here at MG's
http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

A very handy guide to using ccleaner
http://www.internetrotsyourbrain.com/ccleanerbeginnersguide/

Also disabling all the fancy effects in Vista can greatly increase increase the performance of your machine. or adding new/more memory.

That is a place to start

Petaluma

 

Totally right.
u got McAfee security don't me your safe, do a full scan =]

And like Petaluma said start doing some regular maintance like uninstalling unused programs/files , disk defrag and disk cleanup..

Your PC should be running smooth again

 

Hi Guys

Dell set McAfee up so it does a full scan every week and it does a QuickClean and a disk defrag once a month, is this ok?, because I can remember on my old computer doing a disk defrag was a big deal it use to take a few hours and you couldn't use your computer, but McAfee does all this whilst I am browsing the internet etc, so do you think its being thorough enough?.

Also how do you go about disabling those fancy effects in Vista?.

Thanks

Lee

 

Before you disable anything, let's see your system specs so we can determine if you even need to do that. If you bought the computer from Dell with Vista preinstalled it is very likely tjat your system is perfectly capable of running Vista the way it was configured before it was shipped to you. If not, we can either disable options or find out what you need to upgrade, whichever you prefer.

Your post states you have two Seagate Barracuda hard drives, which most likely means you have a desktop computer. Did you make any changes to it just before the problems started, such as adding hardware or installing new software? If you did, reverse that change and see if the problem goes away.

One last question: Are you set up in an administrator account, or are you logging in to the main Administrator account when you log in to use the computer every day?

Sorry for the many questions, but I prefer knowing what I'm dealing with before I start giving detailed advice.

 

Hi

Yeah I have a desktop, the spec is:

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ 1.91GHz
2GB RAM
2x 150GB SATA Seagate Barracudas

If you need any more info let me know.

I haven't made any hardware changes I may of installed some software, i'm not sure though. How do I find out what account I am logging into?.

Thanks

Lee

 

Do you have a separate graphics card, or do you use the built-in graphics chip on the motherboard?

To find out what type of account you're in, go to Account Management in your control panel. It will tell you what kind you have. Sorry I can't be more specific, my Vista computer is an ocean and two continents away right now... not to mention, with this being New Years Eve and my flying home over those continents and oceans tomorrow I will not be able to check this thread regularly until on Sunday. I'll do my best though... we'll figure this out!

 

Ha, no problem mate. I couldn't find an Account Management in my control panel, but I did find something called User Accounts and in there it says that I am set up as an Administrator. I think it might be a built in one, it says it is an Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE GPU.

Thanks