windows xp freezes when opening programs, wont shut down

i need serious help. whenever i try to open some programs in xp sp3, all i get is an hourglass cursor. sometimes a window starts to load but then stops. ctrl+alt+delete doesnt work to close it. i cant shut it down either. sometimes ill get as far as "saving your settings..." but then its stuck again. i ran ccleaner to clean the registry and it cleared up a ton of errors but still no help. this is really frustrating

 

Hi my friend , welcome to MG's :major

What is your machine specs ? Download this tool !! :wave

http://majorgeeks.com/Speccy_d6358.html

follow the process :

from left column choose

Summary ( wait 30 seconds until report generated )

from bar menu select :

File
Save as Text file
choose desktop as saving location
follow this process to post your machine type report

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=86880

 

It's keeps analyzing but all it comes up with is "MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3" for the OS, been analyzing for 5 minutes now and nothing.

 

ok restarted for the trillionth time and now speccy works,

 

One main problem i see in that mess of a post is your RAM that is most likely your issue Speccy is saying that you only have one gig of RAM is that correct.

Then if so you might need an upgrade i would say that your one gig of ram is not enough.For what every you running,

Can you open up your computer case and give us the number for the Motherboard please so that we can look up the correct Ram that you will need to get.

And all so can you edit that post.

 

It may start but i don't see how you have enough ram to run any thing eles XP takes 512mb to run properly so there goes half of your ram as is but if the computer has a bunch of other stuff running in the backround sucking up ram then you would need to adjust your VRam's size if you only have one gig of ram..

but it all so sounds like to me some kinda virus or malware.But i ant saying its not having enough ram either.

Do you have any kinda Anti virus running.

 

I would read this and follow any instructions.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

 

Ok i think i found your mother board
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/404845993/Intel_478_socket_motherboard_845EL_with.html

I as far as i saw you are maxed out on your ram.So i am starting to think its got to be virus's / malware issue.

The site says you can only fit 1gig of ram in that computer.

 

Could be a number of things, corrupted windows files, failing hard drive. To test the windows files, insert your windows xp disc, goto start then click run and type in "sfc /scannow And that should test/repair your system files. Also i would recommend running windows update and updating any system updates that are available. Thats a good first step, try those please. Also for the record, i do have an xp machine at work running 256 megs of ram that runs fine, as long as its only used for internet browsing, as its just slow for other things, but the original xp required far less then 512 ram.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll follow the suggestions and post my results. malwarebytes, adaware don't show any malware, I also scanned the disk for errors and it came back clean.

 

How long has it been since you cleaned the computer.Like junk files and stuff.

 

In addition to Goldenskull's suggestion , follow this

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx

even go to Start - run %temp% - Ok , delete the files !! :wave

 

installed and ran avg (thorough scan), cleared up about 70 threats or so--mostly tracking cookies and such but also some trojans that i guess malwarebytes and adaware didnt catch. i also cleaned up junk files, and managed to fix a problem with windows automatic updates and installed 35 critical updates. it seems to be running ok for now. i still have the nagging suspicion that the registry could be cleaner but im not sure what to do about it. ive scanned it with ccleaner, winoptimizer, and avg and they all return with a different amount of registry errors. im inclined to let it be for now unless any other issue arises. before all this trouble i had a problem with it freezing at the welcome screen on startup, if its not cleared up now ill have to address that separately too. of course any comments or suggestions are appreciated as is the advice received thus far.

 

I would get rid of WinOptimizer And use AdvanceSystem Care 5

Only cost 20$ for a full year WinOptimizer charges 30+ i think for there program

ASC is much better and is fully able to upgrade with any windows

I have been with Iobit since day 1 and haven't looked back if you look at are download counts its much better and its freeware all so.If you don't want to pay for it.But like i said its only 20$ a year and it is all so Freeware too.

And all so use Smart Defrag. http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5318
Advance System Care 5.http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5927

Iobit programs are very easy too use.

These two are very good programs.

 

thanks i will definitely give the trial periods a go at the very least. is it more or less safe to go ahead and correct and registry error asc finds? i can always create a restore point beforehand but messing with the registry always makes me nervous, especially when im correcting say 200 or more errors :-o

 

I never have a issue with ASC 5 correcting the Registry.
I clean mine out every day.
You would be Surprised on how much ASC will find.

 

computers running ok although its definitely a lot slower than it was, hopefully once i get asc or something thatll take care of that. one big problem is that the sound wasnt working so i tried to update the driver for the sound card and during installation i got the blue screen o' death during installation. same thing happened earlier when i tried to update the video card driver. in each case i ran system restore. this sucks

 

Try rolling back in Safe Mode see if that helps.