Computer Geeks - Please Help

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Many freeze ups are caused by a lack of RAM. How much do you have?

Also don't have too many 'unnecessary' programs starting up and running in the background.

Maybe get a program like StartUpLite - free from the makers of Malwarebytes.

http://malwarebytes.org/startuplite.php

How would I know?

Nothing seems to be running that takes up much space other than IE and Desktop.

Originally posted by no1marauder
Windows Vista

IE 7 (?)

Don't tell me to switch to another browser, please.

if an up-to-date scan was clean (I'd trust fsecure's free online scan much further than any smalltime prog or norton/macafee), malware probably never was the problem.

maybe your ie has become corrupted? has your computer a history of crashing? because that tends to screw things up eventually, no matter how good vista is restoring such changes. updating your browser to the current ie 8 might overwrite the corrupted parts. a complete OS clean reinstallation would do that for sure. but if you don't have a history of vista crashing, corruption is quite unlikely.

another thing that comes to mind is a harware failure. graphics card, power supply or even the mainboard. because often they start failing gradually, overheating and then starting to malfunction increasingly. it's not always a question of on/off. one way to get a hint of such a problem is to increase cooling massively. opening the box, maybe even putting a room fan to blow in there. if the freeze-ups stop, there's something overheating. which might be simple dust problem, broken case fan, or a failing piece of harwared experiencing unstable current problems.

I had browser issues exactly like yours with a failing graphics card. eventually it failed completely, but it turned out it was only a part of the card, the signal coming from DVI out. after changing to VGA out it worked again perfectly (probably on it's last leg though). -I'm not suggesting that's exactly what you have, or that plugging the monitor into different port would help, but just as an example of how weird hardware failures can be. (I had another site in addition to RHP causing the freeze, but everything else worked fine.) something to keep your mind open to. usually HW failure manifests itself regardless of the site viewed, but I assume you have RHP open for the longest as most of us probably do. and sometimes there's just some little piece of site specific script which triggers the freeze, whatever the original source of the problem is.

but I'd try to exhaust software problems first. it might even be a simple case of two randomly conflicting pieces of software. if you have anything unusual running on your machine it might be an idea to check out.

(a few years ago a filled up browser's temporary internet files cache used to create freezing problems for many, but I haven't heard of anything like that for ages. it would be site specific, at least first).


that's all I can think of right now.

Originally posted by no1marauder
How would I know?

Nothing seems to be running that takes up much space other than IE and Desktop.

#! try using the 'game booster' function that came with the tool you just downloaded. It might be a separate download, I can't recall but the current version is 1.1

That will free up some Ram by closing some unnecessary programs and allow you to quickly reopen them if you need them latter. You can also download a program called 'smart ram' that will help you keep track of how much free memory you are using and how much you have left.

If ram is not your problem then it sounds like a browser issue. But the freeze up just for RHP, doesn't make a lot of sense unless you just need to clear your cache more often.

I'm not buying the advertisement issue. I've never had a problem with that because I don't click on the adverts. I doubt you do either.

If you leave your computer on too long and never shut it down and or keep your browser open for a day or two sometimes your browsers will have memory leaks and will cause them to act sluggish and freeze up. Sometimes just a reboot or or closing and reopening your browser can help.

Originally posted by no1marauder
How would I know?

Nothing seems to be running that takes up much space other than IE and Desktop.

IF nothing works that has been suggested, take it out to a tech that knows what he/she is doing, and don't be so damn CHEAP!!!

You might even learn something!

I would imagine someone has already mentioned the ID TEN T issues

Originally posted by Very Rusty
IF nothing works that has been suggested, take it out to a tech that knows what he/she is doing, and don't be so damn CHEAP!!!

You might even learn something!

I would imagine someone has already mentioned the ID TEN T issues

Often a "tech" will charge way too much for something relatively simple. Can't hurt to ask around for advice.

Originally posted by no1marauder
Don't tell me to switch to another browser, please.

If you're still having this problem, you may have to, at least just to rule out IE as the culprit.

Download either Google Chrome, Opera, Safari or FireFox, install it and try out RHP with whichever one you choose.
If there is no crash, I'd suggest upgrading IE7 to IE8.


Interesting thing happened a month or so ago - I was using IE8, purely for development testing purposes, mind, and suddenly it just refused to load.
I couldn't figure it out and eventually I had to revert back to IE7 (after wrestling IE8 from Windows' grip). Clean installing IE8 over a clean install of IE7 just brings back the problem.

Moral of the story? Weird stuff happens on Windows PCs sometimes...