Comp freezes randomly
 

I know that sounds like a noob question but -- it's never done this before. My computer's acting like it doesn't have the power it does, and if too much is running at once then BLAM it freezes completely. I think explorer.exe is what's lagging, since the taskbar freezes up.

Oh yah, info.

XP Service Pack 2
Intel 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo processor
2 GBs DDR2 SDRAM

So anyway, I looked at Task Manager to find out if something's hogging the memory, and that real-time virus scanning program included in Symantec Corp. Edition Antivirus is using up a good bit -- over 50,000k in usage.

Here's what happened the last time it froze. I was merely running IE for Windows Explorer. The validation installer window froze, the cursor got stuck in type mode, and then it stopped moving all together.

Other times, it'll happen when I come out of standby. Usually, Pidgin will stop responding and while I can still double click on Firefox or other programs on the desktop, I can't touch anything I have to get to the taskbar for, since it's frozen up as well.

Any ideas? I know it's vague. :eagletear:

With two GBs of RAM, I doubt it's suffering from any lack of resources to keep running. It may be a hard drive problem manifesting itself, but I like the idea that the OS may be your problem.

Backup your stuff, reinstall the OS, and give it a spin.

Is your comp shutting down by itself sometimes also...or only freezing?

If so it could also be his RAM is not compatible with his MOBO. Seen it happens twice and once with myself. If your PC shuts itself off or give you random blue screens it could be your RAM is not compatible. If its just freezing problems then disregard my comment