Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Posted this awhile back with no answer.On my Xp when starting computer and say clicking on connect or spider or any other function,the item freezes,hi-lites.I then use control,alternate,delete,click on any part of task manager blue frame etc,the hi-light moves to task manager.I X out of task manager and can now pull the item (window) up,be it to go on line etc.From this point on as long as XP is on it functions 100 percent normal.I go thru this every day.The person who has serviced this XP cannot figure it out.I am not computer literate.
That's a pain to have to go through those extra steps every single day. A couple of random thoughts ...
1) What antivirus/spyware/malware programs are you running? Could your antivirus program, perhaps, have developed a glitch and is now overdoing its job blocking access to programs? Maybe you could uninstall your antivirus and other such monitoring programs and then reboot to see if there's any difference.
and/or
2) When you turn on your computer, hit F8 before the Windows screen comes up so that you can watch, step by step, each line of the commands as the computer boots up. Even if none of them makes sense to you, you can write them down and then share them here or with your computer service person, and someone who is computer literate may see something.
and/or
3) Put the Task Manager icon into your system tray. When booting your computer, as soon as the icon appears in your task bar, click on it and watch all the processes to see which ones are loading, which ones are taking up the most available CPU space, etc.
I'm not computer literate, so if I had to start troubleshooting, the above would be the steps I would take.
That's a pain to have to go through those extra steps every single day. A couple of random thoughts ...
1) What antivirus/spyware/malware programs are you running? Could your antivirus program, perhaps, have developed a glitch and is now overdoing its job blocking access to programs? Maybe you could uninstall your antivirus and other such monitoring programs and then reboot to see if there's any difference.
and/or
2) When you turn on your computer, hit F8 before the Windows screen comes up so that you can watch, step by step, each line of the commands as the computer boots up. Even if none of them makes sense to you, you can write them down and then share them here or with your computer service person, and someone who is computer literate may see something.
and/or
3) Put the Task Manager icon into your system tray. When booting your computer, as soon as the icon appears in your task bar, click on it and watch all the processes to see which ones are loading, which ones are taking up the most available CPU space, etc.
I'm not computer literate, so if I had to start troubleshooting, the above would be the steps I would take.
1. A good idea to start looking for the issue
2. Not possible with XP, this was a Windows 9x "feature" and if I remember right it was a different key. F8 in XP will get you the boot menu, and you'll only see what you describe if you boot to safe mode.
3. Another good idea, see if something is pegging the CPU when this happens.
It sounds to me that something is happening before XP can fully load if you can't even use the Start button. Although your desktop may be visible and all the little icons appear on your desktop and in your system tray and task bar, perhaps the associated programs are not really loaded - maybe some part of XP is stuck or in a problematic loop.
Try removing AVG, and if that doesn't make a difference, then that has been eliminated as the problem. So, the next step would be to boot in Safe Mode and see if the problem no longer exists - that would point the finger at a particular list of programs not essential to XP, one of which would be the culprit.
Thank you for reply,I have never used safe mode and am afraid I will get into more trouble but will try and remove AVG anti-virus.This can be tricky to get all removed.
Don't worry about using Safe Mode ... you can't harm your machine unless you deliberately change any settings - just using Safe Mode doesn't change anything - all it does is boot your computer with just the essentials, and you can easily go back to regular boot-up.
As for disabling AVG, I've found that's not possible, and the only way to 'turn it off' is to remove it. Fortunately AVG, in my experience, is more simple to remove than other antivirus programs.
You do realize, DanBev, that you'll need to keep coming back to this thread and keep us updated on your progress!
XP Safe Mode steps:
Click Start> Click Run> Type msconfig> click OK> Click Boot.ini tab> Click box by /Safeboot > Click OK> Click Restart
Puter will reboot to Safe mode. During that process, it will ask if you want to run restore or go to safe mode. Easy answer for that, huh?
To go back to normal mode, repeat the process, just unclick the Safeboot box. Once it get to normal mode, click the box that pops up, otherwise it will keep popping up every time you reboot.
Last night tried to reply and kept getting cut off.Thank you everyone,did try Avg removal with no luck.I do appreciate post on safe mode but am apprehensive.If I did get into safe mode what do I look for?I am afraid of doing something stupid.
Don't worry - just follow Brian.Pearson's instructions - booting in Safe Mode won't do any damage to your machine nor negatively affect it. Safe Mode just means that only the important programs will load. So, for example, certain games might not work or other such things. The games (or whatever) are not removed nor will they be corrupted in any way - it's just that in Safe Mode not all their components will load. Returning to normal boot will reboot everything. In Safe Mode your screen resolution might be different than normal, larger for example, but that's not permanent and will go back to normal when you go back to a normal boot mode.
When in Safe Mode what you're hoping to find is that you can operate your computer without having to use the Task Manager - that's what you'll be "looking" for.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
task manager
