Fuck - windows experts inside.. occasionally my computer cannot take input

[Myst]

this is driving me insane

for some reason, every little while my computer completely stops responding to input

if i get a message on icq, i can see the message icon appear in my tray, if i get a message on msn, i can see the window turn orange on the taskbar

but i cant click anything.. i can move my mouse, but i cant click anything

if i try to open up task manager, sometimes it doesnt even load, sometimes it loads for a second then freezes.. i cant close any programs.

if i hit 'del' on the keyboard (close process), nothing appears on my screen, but if i ctrl alt del again i see the confirmation message "do you want to close this app".. but i cant hit yes

any idea wtf is wrong?

ive ran all sorts of virus scanners, spyware checkers, i dont know wtf it is

something somehow is loading on startup and its not being caught, and its not in msconfig nor can i find it with programs like hijackthis

it seems to be happening more and more.. sometimes right after restart if i try to do too much i get hit

[Dirty F]

I have the same problem and in my case only a reboot helps.
Everything basically freezes, im just able to move my mouse around but not able to click anything.

[Serge Litehead]

i wonder what do you see in task manager, when you able to get to it.

[wargames]

That sucks.

[flashfire]

email bill gates and ask him

[Serge Litehead]

seriously, you probably have alot of stuff loaded in while while trying to complete a simple tasks.
-i would recomend uninstall all the stuff you never use, i see this very often.
-remove from sturt up all the junk, including weather bug - you still dont get out much.
- some programs requere twiking their preferences or options so they would not load automatically. do that.
- if you're using XP with SP2, install MS anti-spyware, its good.
- btw sometimes norton adn mcafee slows system down, and its pain to get rid of them. ;) btw if norton or mcaffee get infected only format helps.
- after removing all the crap you dont need, run defrag on all your hard-drives. while doing defrag make sure you dont use the computer.
- get more ram

[DutchTeenCash]

too many processes running, ive got the same startup photoshop premiere outlook and some more shit and it happens

take a look at your outlook, is it close to 2gb ? then thats the cause, it needs ages to download the structure and emails, same here takes 2-3 mins to start and locks up everything

[Serge Litehead]

also if you're not satisfied with the performance of your XP machine i suggest the following:

right-click on "My computer", goto Properties, click "Advanced" tab and select "Adjust for best performance", then apply.
This will remove all the fancy stuff XP offers by default and make system run a bit faster.

[Myst]

Originally Posted by holograph

also if you're not satisfied with the performance of your XP machine i suggest the following:

right-click on "My computer", goto Properties, click "Advanced" tab and select "Adjust for best performance", then apply.
This will remove all the fancy stuff XP offers by default and make system run a bit faster.

done that

[Myst]

Originally Posted by thinkx

too many processes running, ive got the same startup photoshop premiere outlook and some more shit and it happens

take a look at your outlook, is it close to 2gb ? then thats the cause, it needs ages to download the structure and emails, same here takes 2-3 mins to start and locks up everything

i have minimal apps running.. no bullshit in my tray or anything loading in the background

[Myst]

Originally Posted by holograph

i wonder what do you see in task manager, when you able to get to it.

nothing strange is in the task manager in terms of odd programs open.. cpu usage is normal

[djscrib]

Sort of sounds like a keystroke logger trojan maybe. This happened to me a couple times (the logger sits around monitoring your mouse and keyboard movoements and sometimes misbehaves and screws them up)

[PKP]

Try checking into any USB keyboard or mouse drivers or hardware (unplug them try other ones). Try different drivers. Check processor temperature.

[reynold]

Happens to me too.

[Myst]

Originally Posted by djscrib

Sort of sounds like a keystroke logger trojan maybe. This happened to me a couple times (the logger sits around monitoring your mouse and keyboard movoements and sometimes misbehaves and screws them up)

interesting
howd u solve it?

[Myst]

bumpieeee

[Myst]

no one has good computer hacking skillz?

[pornguy]

My mouse has not been working the right way lately. And neither has the one that my wife uses. She has a USB and I have wireless. Sometimes two to three clicks to close a window.

[Myst]

this isnt a mouse not working hardware issue

[Myst]

this isnt a mouse not working hardware issue

[PKP]

If there's nothing in MSconfig you could check the registry for "services" that run on startup that aren't visible in msconfig. There's "RunOnce" and a few others. Have you checked the registry yet manually? Seearch for 'runonce' and sniff around there and in other sub-branches. If any adaware programs have missed something that is loaded on startup, it would be in the registry under a service.

Also it still could be a driver problem , do you have another computer to test the hardware on? Badly written drivers, especially USB and video cards can lock up a PC for no apparant reason.

P.S. Yo, local albertan!

[broke]

Have you tried using perfmon to determine what's spiking your CPU and/or RAM?

[Bosco4y2k3]

Have you checked the air flow/temperature across your processor? Sounds to me like it's overheating.

[Antonio]

Originally Posted by PKP

If there's nothing in MSconfig you could check the registry for "services" that run on startup that aren't visible in msconfig. There's "RunOnce" and a few others. Have you checked the registry yet manually? Seearch for 'runonce' and sniff around there and in other sub-branches. If any adaware programs have missed something that is loaded on startup, it would be in the registry under a service.

There're couple of programs out there that ca do that. I used to run one (I think the name was Kill Process, not sure though), you'll be surprised how many programs you can find running in the background, which are not shown in msconfig. Even if you press Ctrl + Alt + Del (XP)
you can not see these programs. Get one of these programs, and take it from there. If such a program can not kill an process that runs on strtup, locate the unwanted program, reboot in safe mode and delete it manually.

Just give it a try, could be a hardware issue as well......

[Myst]

nope nothings overheating

and i noticed yesterday that my sound goes on and off...
i hear a little sound telling me that some new device has been detected, about 4 times (10 seconds in between approx) and then my sound dies

[Bosco4y2k3]

Ok, Its really hard to guess without actually looking at it but If you've checked all your running tasks,msconfig ect and determined it's not software related I would unplug the computer, ground yourself and start reseating devices beginning with your ram. Check the fan motor on the processor while your in there and take a pencil eraser and go across the contacts on all your devices to clean them off before you reseat them. DONT do this on a carpet or somewhere you will build static and not ground yourself. also, check the caps on your motherboard for leakage, They look like little soda cans.

[Myst]

i think this is some program hidden within another

many keyloggers/spyware can run on your computer WITHOUT being a service or a process.

http://www.spytech-web.com/spyagent.shtml is a program for example, that somehow loads on your computer without showing up as a service, or a process.

im guessing this is done by one of 2 ways.. i could be wrong
1) the app installs itself as a driver
2) the app embeds itself within another app

let me know what u guys think

[iwantchixx]

format c:


Seriously

it sounds like your due.

How long has it been since the last reformat?

[Bosco4y2k3]

svchost can do that without showing the name of the process it's running. Drivers are usually signed, run dxdiag (start, run, type in dxdiag) and it'll tell you if all your drivers are digitally signed so doubtful it's a driver type virus.
Have you tried rolling back your system to a date before it started doing that?
you'll loose anything you installed after the restore date but mabe give that a try.

[Myst]

Originally Posted by iwantchixx

format c:


Seriously

it sounds like your due.

How long has it been since the last reformat?

3 months >_<

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by holograph

seriously, you probably have alot of stuff loaded in while while trying to complete a simple tasks.
-i would recomend uninstall all the stuff you never use, i see this very often.
-remove from sturt up all the junk, including weather bug - you still dont get out much.
- some programs requere twiking their preferences or options so they would not load automatically. do that.
- if you're using XP with SP2, install MS anti-spyware, its good.
- btw sometimes norton adn mcafee slows system down, and its pain to get rid of them. ;) btw if norton or mcaffee get infected only format helps.
- after removing all the crap you dont need, run defrag on all your hard-drives. while doing defrag make sure you dont use the computer.
- get more ram

I got diskeeper 9.0 pro. can defrag the boot sector and the page file. great app

[Bosco4y2k3]

lol.. 3mo? I'd just reformat again. At least you'll know if it's hardware or software related issue that way.

[iwantchixx]

If you're running XP that's probbaly your problem too.

Go with win2k


fast

reliable

and works.