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Subject: Computer Freezing
Posted by: Great One
- [56438112] Wed, May 07, 2008, 16:18
My laptop (Dell Inspiron, Windows XP) has been freezing up on me a lot lately. Freezes when I open iTunes or WMP or IE Explorer. Last night, when I opened my browser I didn't even get the little square on the taskbar so I could go into IE Explorer -- but when I got to Task Manager it claims it is running.
Any idea what causes a freeze?
Gonna do Disc Cleanup and Defragment tonight.
Is there a program (or a something I can download) that can test everything on my computer to make sure its working right? Guess I should do a spyware check of some sort too. |
| 1 | Mike D
Leader
ID: 041831612
Wed, May 07, 2008, 16:23
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Spyware check for sure. Could be that you need more memory. Or you have too many programs running. Check your Startup folder under Start/Programs and see what's there.
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| 2 | Perm Dude
ID: 1141879
Wed, May 07, 2008, 16:29
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Dell has a program which comes with most Dell machines, to do a sort of one-stop check of your machine. I'll check my wife's laptop to find it. It is something like "Dell Support."
Are you up-to-date on Windows updates?
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| 3 | Mike D
Leader
ID: 041831612
Wed, May 07, 2008, 16:57
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Yes, I am. But why are you asking me? GO is the one with the problem.
;)
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| 4 | Great One
ID: 2241519
Wed, May 07, 2008, 18:14
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Good call on the Dell Support Center... found it and it had a list of things (latest Adobe, Active X etc) I had available updates for. I updated all of those and seems to be running better.
So far anyway. I do have a ton of songs on my hard drive... where should I look to see that I have enough available memory or if I should delete a few hundred?
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| 5 | Great One
ID: 2241519
Wed, May 07, 2008, 18:25
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Random question not worth a thread.
At the end of the night I turn off my computer so I don't waste any electricity. But that little green light is still glowing on the AC Adapter. I know that any time any light is on even when the item is turned off (i.e. my cable box) its wasting electricity. My question is, how much is using? a negligiable amount? a few dollars worth per month? We've done doing little things like going to those more energy efficient light bulbs and unplugging things when we aren't home for the weekend etc. So I'd hate to just give a few bucks back for no reason. In theory I could just unplug entirely from the wall but they way its laid out, its not easy to get to.
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| 6 | astade
ID: 1533770
Thu, May 08, 2008, 00:01
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Great One,
If we are talking about the same small, green light on the adapter (mine is a laptop) then then energy consumption is almost nil. A good check would be to feel the adapter and see if it gets hot...power would be dissipated that way if your adapter was consuming. My adapter is at ambient temperature so I have no worries.
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| 7 | Great One
ID: 56438112
Thu, May 08, 2008, 09:09
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Alright, sounds good... I do wonder how much energy its absorbing if I leave my laptop on overnight and its plugged in.
Thats part 2 of my question I guess. I have all the "power saver" settings on.
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| 8 | Frick
ID: 23117516
Thu, May 08, 2008, 11:08
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If you have the laptop off and it is fully charged unplug the adapter.
link
My wife and I try to unplug any appliance that we aren't using regularly. Does it make a difference, I can't say I've noticed a huge impact on our bill, but it is a small step you can take if you want to live greener.
Did you run a spyware check? I suggest Spy-bot and Adaware.
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| 9 | Great One
ID: 56438112
Thu, May 08, 2008, 12:22
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Interesting article. Its basically what I was talking about. its incredible how much energy we waste.
Do you think unplugging the laptop from the AC Adapter is worth it? if the AC Plug isn't attached to the laptop - I wonder if its still using energy... the green light is still on I believe but I'll have to check tonight. Cause getting down behind the tables or desk where the computers are plugged in isn't really an option every night.
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| 10 | Frick
ID: 23117516
Thu, May 08, 2008, 13:03
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I guess you have a couple of options. Does the converter sit on top of the desk (I assume so since you can see the green light), unplug the cord from the converter box. Or get a powerstrip that you can plug into and turn the power-off there.
My wife got me started on this, I can't find the article, but it claimed that 15% of all energy used in America is via "vampire" appliances that aren't in use.
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