My Computer keeps freezing?

Question

Ok, I just got my friends old computer. I has windows XpSp2 and a celeron processor. I am not using it to go on the internet, I cleaned all unnessesary programs out of it,(and it seemed to work fine) and then installed a printer. Now everytime I do something simple like try to play pinball, it freezes up. Do it need to wipe the hard drive? If I do, How is it done?

This computer has NO internet access at all.

Also, how do you update a the graphics card if that needs to be done?

Answer 1

Sounds like RAM overload. Graphics like wallpaper, screensavers, and games consume memory.

When you want to play a game, close everything else. You can try these cleanup hints. They might help.

- Many users are not aware of how much RAM is used by wallpaper and/or a screensaver full of graphics. They run in the background and consume memory. (I have only 512mb RAM, run multiple programs simultaneously, and have set my wallpaper and screensaver to blank.)

I don’t do games, but I do know they are primarily graphics which need and use a lot of memory.

- How many programs do you load at startup? Maybe you should check it out and ensure you are running just what you need.
To do this: cl Start, cl Settings, cl Taskbar and Start Menu.
-cl Start Menu, cl Customize, cl Remove.
-cl the icon for the program you wish to remove
-then cl Remove.
-This will prevent the program from loading at startup, but will not remove the program from the hard disk.

-When you are working in a large file, save frequently to restore full memory access. (Your work remains in memory until you “save” it to disk.)

1.Did you run an error check? Open My Computer,
Right-cl on C:, Select Properties, Tools – Run an Error Check ( checkmark “check all and fix); then run a Defrag

2.Are you using Yahoo Toolbar? Run a full Norton Antispy.

3.From IE, click Tools, Internet Options
delete cookies
delete files (offline files)
clear history (set days to save to 0 if you want)
click o.k., and Restart

3.click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools – run Disk Cleanup

4.click Start, Run ipconfig renew (type ipconfig space renew)

All these things should be done regularly. The more frequently they are run, the less time they take.
-Note: Games and videos are mostly graphics. Graphics create large files. If this doesn’t help, you should consider getting more memory.

Answer 2

Try defraging the hard disk before you wipe it. Anytime you add and remove multiple programs files can get separated on the HD. To run defrag on windows XP go to - Start - All Programs - Assecories - System Tools and select - disk defragmenter

This should really help, Good Luck

Answer 3

This sometimes happen after you've clean up a computer.

Run Scandisk.

How - click my computer right click C: then left click properties, then left click tools, then click now on error checking Don't tick any boxes just press Start - if it comes back that it failed then tick bottom box & click Start then click top box & click start.

If this does not sort the problem out, un-install the printer & see if this makes a difference.

Answer 4

After examining all those different solutions, it occurred to me that the difficulty would ok have not got something to do with the OS, viruses, or any of that different nonsense. purely placed, it might desire to in all hazard be a difficulty resembling what I had a while in the past. i grow to be experiencing the comparable hassles, the sole element i'd desire to do grow to be to close it down and attempt lower back later Lo and behold, i desperate to get a bigger tricky tension sooner or later, I put in it and the difficulty disappeared. WHY? It seems that the difficulty grow to be that the HDD grow to be at fault. A techie informed me after testing it, that a capacitor (a thingie that holds a value for a undeniable length of time) interior the HDD grow to be no longer functioning and subsequently it grow to be overheating and closing itself down. answer: Get yet another HDD, deploy the OS, deploy all your backups and/or reinstall any classes or video games you like. extremely some artwork, yet even though, a comp. is purely a bite of hardware, it may and does ruin down via no fault of your person. ;-)

Answer 5

My neighbor's computer kept freezing or at least going agonizingly slow, it turned out her problem was simply too little *memory* (as opposed to disk space) for the job. My spouse's memory is 512, mine is 1024, and we both use dialup (at the moment); our neighbor, aforementioned, has only 256, and uses DSL!!! So even though her downloads are quickie, her computer gulps at doing more than say two windows at once...

Answer 6

what celeron? i mean the speed? RAMs too?

try alt+ctrl+del. look at how many programs that runs. should anything look suspicious to you, close it right away. but beware, don't close anything related to windows programs. k. if it's still doesn't work, try update the graphics card (if u have it)

Answer 7

You cleaned up the software, did you inspect the hardware, there's a lot more to troubleshooting a PC than running apps that fix software.

Answer 8

you have to scan for viruses. you either download a viruse scanner from the internet(but in youre case i wouldnt do it) or buy one from a store