I've got this Gateway 2160 Convertible tablet with a 1.7gHz processor and 2GB of RAM with Vista Ultimate installed. And I'll be working on it, and it will seem to be running fine, but then--for no reason--it won't let me open new IE window, or--come to think of it--any sort of window-- unless I close some other window first. After a while I won't be able to bookmark pages, open the context menu, or make use of dropdown boxes. It’s like there's a popup blocker running amuck.

This has happened several times in the past few months. Most recently, it happened this morning. And when I tried to open HiJackThis I got this error message that said "Out of memory". This is crazy because I was only running IE, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Messenger. Then, when I tried to open a OneNote side note, the note closed as soon as it opened.

This has been happening off and on since I got the thing about six months ago. I reformatted and reinstalled Windows a couple of weeks ago and its still happening. Which is why I'm posting here instead of in one of the Spyware forums.

So...anyway...what's going on with my machine...and how do I fix it?

What anti-virus are you using?

Avast Home edition

The easiest way to check your resources is the Performance tab in Task Manager. A more complete idea can be gotten from the Processes tab when the IO Reads column is enabled. This way you can view the total number of processes running along with their CPU, Memory, and Disk Read consumption.

To do this, open Task Manager by right clicking on an empty area of the Task Bar.
Click on the Processes tab, then on the View menu item.
Select "Select Columns" and then put a check mark by IO Reads and click OK to exit the dialog.
Then stretch the window so that you can see all the columns.

Then go ahead and open up your usual bunch of windows. When you notice it slowing down, look at Task Manager to find the processes that are consuming the most CPU, the most Memory, and the most IO Reads - this should give you an idea of what's causing the slowdown. Let us know and we can suggest some things to check out.

Sorry, I should have mentioned this in my OP. I did check task manager (while I was still able to open task manager) and I wasn't using more than 1.1GBs.

Also, the computer does not slow down. It just stops wanting to open any new windows. Doesn't matter if its the task manager or Microsoft Expression Web.

It may not be a memory issue, it may just manifest itself in that way (could be that a program forgot to let Windows know it released the memory after it had released it). I'd suggest leaving Task Manager open and then trying to cause this problem - that way it'll already be running when the problem occurs and you should be able to see it better. You'll be looking not just for total consumption - but odd looking (too high, too low, or too variable) figures in the different columns.

Try checking your Event Viewer for error messages around the time of the slowdown/freezes. Go to Start and type in "eventvwr.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter. Check the Application and System logs for errors. If there's an Internet Explorer section check that also. Let us know what you find and we'll move on from there.

Also, just on a hunch, try checking Device Manager for any devices with red x's or yellow !'s. Go to Start and type in "devmgmt.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter.

How many tabs are open in Internet Explorer?
Do you have all the latest Windows Updates?
Try running this free program to see if there's any issues on the system: http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir...n=sware_dl_3264
Try this free program to test your memory: http://www.memtest86.com/
And download a hard drive diagnostic utility from the website of the manufacturer of your hard drive.
Could you verify the model number of your Gateway 2160? I can't find any reference to that model number on the Gateway website.

Lemme try this again: It. Does. Not. Slow. Down. It just won't open anything (like the start menu). The button works (which is to say that it goes 'up' and 'down') but no menu appears.



Nope, everything's normal.


No more than two or three.

yep


Will do.


Sorry, I should have said 2610.

I'll let you know what happens after I run those tests.

Take care,
Nerd