PC Freezes during any application

I am running Windows XP Professional and my PC freezes up regardless of which application I run. Any thoughts as to what the problem is? I.e., Bug, worm, operating system fault???

Can I install Windows XP Home addition over Windows XP Professional???

 

I recommend that you follow these instructions to tweak your system for performance.

To answer your question about whether you can install XP home over XP Pro, yes, you should be able to do this. However, the preferred method (called a "clean install") is to completely erase all data on the hard drive and install the OS on a clean slate. This gives you a known good copy of the software, without any defects that may be inherited from a previous install.

 

moondoggy

Can you run task manager ?

See if there are any processes running with high cpu time or high memory usage. ?

There could be loads of reasons for this malware is a possibility but we'll get to that later.

Matt

 

No. I cannot get the Task Manager to show itself. When I hit Ctrl Alt Delete, nothing comes up.

 

Try looking in the thread linked by Mada_Milty.

If that fails then you can try booting in safe mode and running some cleanu up utilities, and AV scans

Matt

 

Heh, actually, my link links to the malware removal thread, which will have you do that. This is looking more and more like a malware infection, so I would pay particular attention to Chaslang's instructions.

 

Note to self: pay attention to links.

 

Note to matt.chugg: reviewing all overlapping information is a drag; don't sweat it!

 

These instructions list many software programs, but is there one known specifically known to freeze PC's. Since my PC freezes up, its going to be very difficult for me to download any program much less the 10 or 20 listed.

 

I managed to get Task Manager to run. 27 processes are running. The biggest are: SVCHOST.exe at 19545, AVG.emc.exe at 14848 and explorer at 12832. The remaining are below 4000k.

 

Probably is some kind of malware. Follow the Link in Mada_miltys post and try some of the steps there.

Matt

 

If possible, you can download them on another computer, and burn them onto disc.

 

yeah doing scans and such can help,but try disabling some processes and startups that you do not have any use of but be careful if you kill a vital it could screw you up.

 

also try defragging and scandisk.