PC Locking Up

I have been having problems with my PC locking up, seriously locking to the point that I have no choice but to give it a hard shut down. CTL + ALT + DEL does not work and I am unable to shut down using the Start button. Most of the time this was happening when I had IE open (and I would be unable to close IE). I decided to try another browser so I downloaded both Mozilla and Chrome. I love them both - basic and much faster than IE. However, this morning I got another freeze but it did not affect my ability to close my browser. Again, CTL + ALT + DEL did not work and unable to shut down using the Start button.

Some basic info about my PC:

Dell Dimension 2350
XP Home SP3
384 MB of RAM (I realize I need more memory, PC only capable of handling 2 X 512 MB. May upgrade soon)
Using Norton 360, Webroot Spy Sweeper, and Webroot Window Washer

CURIOUS - what do others think of Norton 360 and Webroot products?

I don't use this computer much - mostly for accessing the Internet and occasionally using Office Applications Word, Excel, Publisher, and PowerPoint.

My box is making a hissing type noise, which I am pretty sure is coming from the Power Supply. I opened it up and cleaned the dust out pretty well - there wasn't what I would consider ALOT of dust but it needed it. It is still making this noise, although it may be slightly quieter........

Within the last month or so I uninstalled my old Symantec AV and Zone Alarm Pro and installed the Norton 360 because I heard that it was efficient and much less of a resource hog. BTW, I was having the freeze problems BEFORE I made these changes. I also uninstalled several programs I had on the machine that I no longer use. I used Window Washer to clean it up and get rid of useless files and information. Disc Defragmenter shows only 4% fragmentation.

I don't think that Malware, a Trojan Horse, or a Virus is the culprit but I cannot be certain. My Security Software isn't picking anything up and I have made sure that updates and definitions are current, including Windows Updates. However, my kids have used this computer and I know for certain that my male child has let his sexual curiosity get the better of him and visited porn sites at some point in the past, but not in the last few months.

So, I thought that perhaps the Power Supply needs to be replaced - not a big deal or an expensive one - because it is causing excessive heat or some other issue. I also thought that adding new Memory (another relatively inexpensive improvement) to max it out could only help. What I am hoping is that this is not a Processor Problem or something else that will prove to be an issue that forces me to buy a new computer. But before I spend any money at all I was hoping that I could provide some info and history and you good folks could offer tips for troubleshooting.

I intend to use some of the information I found in the Malware Removal Forum to see if it helps. Also, it looked as though in the H/W Forum there was some information about tools to use to check serviceability of the HDD and Memory.

Would anyone be able to provide any additional tips - based on experience point me to something that may be the more likely problem?

Thanks in advance for any help offered! Those of you that give your time to help stiffs like me are the best..........

 

Can you access your BIOS and see what temperatures/voltages you are running at, as compared to the recommended settings? You can also then reset everything to default. S/B F2 on boot up.
Perhaps something/somebody fooled with these.
The hissing is coming either from the fans or the HD. If the latter, hope you got everything saved/backed up. If the first, you may be having temperature problems, or voltage resets.:wave:wave:wave

 

Also try a disk cleanup! start/accessories/system tools/disk cleanup. Try this as well if the cleanup doesn't help http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4191 . Download and run this free/safe program. It'll pretty much clear your entire windows temp file history. I've seen this cause issues such as your having.