Temporarily locks up

Today's chapter in the never ending saga of "It ain't working right", as I move out of sundry programs, ie Firefox, T'bird, IEx, other sites, and prepare to move onto others, the system hangs up and I cannot exit for a few seconds or almost a minute. I have no mouse control (pointer does not show up on screen), pressing enter or perhaps f5, or space bar, etc produces a beep. Sometimes, if there are several sites I am actively working, that all are closed when I back out of another program. Then the Desktop comes up with many of the icons missing. A short time later they come back on.
I ran my security sweeps, but they found nothing except tracking. :***:banghead
Sarge

 

Sounds like a possible RAM issue. How much do you have? Take a look in the task manager just before you move out of one set of apps to the other to see how much RAM is being used. Firefox is nortorious for consuming ever increasing amounts, and doesn't like to give it up. See if the apps you're quitting are releasing the RAM...

 

Some programs need to do some cleanup after closing. I remember earlier versions of Firefox (3.x) taking a long time, and very high CPU, after closing.

Run Task Manager | Processes tab before starting to close these apps, then watch who/what is using all these resources.

I have also realized over the years that some methods of closing apps are more effective than others; I just do not know why. Using Alt+F4 always seems more effective than using the little [x] on the top-right of the window. Actually, using keyboard shortcuts always seem more effective than any mouse action.

 

Have 1.25GB RAM

Commit Charge 961M
Also, now when exiting programs, Turn Off Computer screen comes on, and Desktop goes to B&W, conducive with my shutting down Windows. Only I did not initiate shut down.:hammer:*** :banghead

Sarge

 

Laptop? Desktop? Battery settings?

Either way, that is not much RAM, Firefox alone will eat that up in a few hours. Post some more info on your setup... TY...

 

Security programs - Super anti Spyware 5.1
Avast 7.0.1456
Malware Anti Malware 1.62.0.1.300
Spybot S&D (current)

Startup? How do I transfer the list to her? Copy paste does not seem to do that

 

Desktop
Battery Settings:I have not found battery settings. Might give me a month, or so, to sort through what I found for determining battery settings
Sarge:confused

 

With desktop, battery is irrelevant, I thought if it was a laptop, battery settings might be putting the machine to sleep/hibernation on low battery.

 

"Post some more info on your setup... TY..."

OK, hope this is what you want
Sarge

System:

2.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board
Board: MS-6547 1.0
Not hyper-threaded
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 07.00T 10/12/01

Drives new – drive encryption
40.02 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
8.95 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

OP:
Win XP Pro/SP3

 

Researching what seems to be the problem from the replies to my post, I came across a recommendation for the program Crucial.
It scans the mother board and suggests any changes. In my case, there are two. Add 1GB for a total 2.25 GB, or take out the 256 MB and then add (2) 1GB for 3 total. The latter would put me at the max for my 32 bit system. I could upgrade to 64-bit, then add more memory. But that seems a little overkill for what I do with a computer.
So, thoughts?
Will 2.25 GB suffice and alleviate my problem, or am I going to need 3GB?
Thank you.
Sarge:tired

 

Drive encryption? Not unless some program I downloaded did it automatically.
Not sure what it accomplishes, and really have no reason I can think of to do so. How does one determine if the HD is encrypted, and if so can it be undone?

I was thinking along the same pertaining to 64 bit. I really see so little accomplished converting to that.

There is a Fry's near me, so I'll spoon out $30 for a 1 GB mem addition, a DDR PC2700

Thanks for assisting.

Sarge:-D

 

Added 1GB mem, now 2.25GB.
Drastic improvement. Still a little slow connecting on some net sites , but overall it cooks right along.:cool
Many thanks, greatly appreciated...now onto other problems with a new post

Sarge