Screen Freezes

The last few days I've been getting annoying screen freezes, and it doesn't matter what I'm doing. I must have picked up something somewhere, but Spywareblaster, Malwarebytes, nor Avast are giving me any clues.

Any ideas? Anything I can use to find virus' or worms that might be hanging the computer?


Thanks in advance

Hello -
Are the Freezes regular , constant , varied in time frames and lengths , and do you only get this on one browser , or on and off line also ??
Will a Reboot / shutown clear the problem at all , or can there be a Freeze at start up also ??

Can you enter Safe Mode at start up and see if there is still a problem after the "usual" estimated time, or do you not have a problem in Safe Mode ??
Are you posting from the problem computer now in Normal Mode / Safe Mode with Networking, or using another computer ??

Thank You -

I have rebooted several times. The freezes were random, on everything I accessed, and the desktop icons are also frozen, I rebooted from a restore point of about 10 days ago before the freezes started happening. The duration of the freezes lasted a few minutes, and if I clicked on the IE button on the taskbar, I was able to minimize the frozen page, then open up a new page. I'm posting in normal mode from the same computer.

Right now the desktop icons are the only things frozen. If i pin the icons to the taskbar, I can open the programs from there, and also from the start menu. Currently I cannot right click on the desktop.

Hi -
Always perform a Back-up and a set restore point prior to doing any registry alteration
If it works fine in Safe Mode, let us put your Computer in Clean Boot to find out if any of the startup application is causing the issue.
Clean Boot will help you start your computer by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs so that you can determine whether a background
program or any of the third party service is interfering with your program.

Steps to perform a Clean Boot:

1. Click Start on your Desktop
2. Type msconfig in the Start Search box and then press ENTER.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
4. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.
5. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
6. Click OK.
7. When you are prompted, click Restart.

To return your computer back to normal boot:

1. Click Start on your Desktop
2. Type msconfig in the Start Search box and then press ENTER.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Click Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services, and then click OK.
5. When you are prompted, click Restart to restart the computer.
For information on using “Clean Boot”, see the following Microsoft Article: >> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

Ok, I did a backup, then a clean boot. We'll see what happens.

Desktop icons frozen solid. So far not too much problem with screen freezes in other apps or internet.


I have downloaded Crap Cleaner, but I want to use it safely. I fear that I'll wipe out the registry.....so I've scanned the registry and a few dozen things came up........if I click 'fix', what happens?


ok......I ran crap cleaner, cleaned up my internet files and such, then 'fixed' the registry files. All seems in order.

Hi -
With CCleaner, please only use the items on the first page and not Registry items.
Just use it for Temp files and similar items -

Thank You -

Ok.....well, it worked out. Everything is running smoothly. I'll remember next time to use the cleaner for first page items.

So what kind of program would I use to work with registry items?

So what kind of program would I use to work with registry items?

Sorry to ask this first, but what do you want to actually do in your registry ??
There is no "Program" that you can use safely, to play in your registry, and most Registry Cleaner Programs will cause more damage than they fix.
The "Programs" that are advertised on many sites are not User Friendly and should not be used without Experienced Supervision

If you do know enough to manually alter items contained in your registry, then Always use a program like ERUNT to back up all settings First.
The registry is an area that contains All your operating system settings and all your Program settings, so any change can be a major drama.

My personal advice is to never play with these settings, unless you have a badly corrupted system or it needs Very Specific minor repairs only.
Sorry if I make this sound like a drama, but in the last 3 weeks alone, I have several times seen the problems caused by these programs -

Regards -

I don't want to do anything with the registry, I was just wondering if I should run into problems what would be a good piece of software. Thanks for the warning, though. I don't know enough to really attempt to do anything. When I used Crap Cleaner I made sure to back everything up before using that registry 'fixer'. My system is running as well as it was before my recent problem, so I was happy that it turned out well. I'll certainly take your advice to heart. Thanks for your input.