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CarCrazy98

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CarCrazy98

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October 31st, 2017 16:00

Random Freeze Ups Inspiron 531

My old Dell Inspiron 531 has been a great computer, but for the longest time, I've had an issue where I'll be browsing the web (usually on Mozilla Firefox) and it will suddenly freeze. If I click, it will show on the top of the window that it's not responding, then I'll have to wait at least 5-10 minutes before it goes back to normal.

I have done several virus scans/removals using everything from Malwarebytes to AVG and SuperAntiSpyware and ESET. MWB found two things the other day that it quarantined, and SAS removed 555 adware/tracking items yesterday. In the past, removing these types of files has worked to improve performance. However over time, it starts to slow down again, and this time removing spyware/malware didn't do anything. The computer is still painfully slow and I can't use the internet without having a bunch of problems.

The internet will also cut out every now and again and I'll have to reset the Wi-Fi adapter several times to get it to work, but that's an issue of the adapter being 10 years old and possibly the driver.

Anyway, I don't think it's Firefox, as I've had Google Chrome in the past and I had the same problem, except it would just show that it's loading a page and never load it. It would just show the loading icon on the tab.

I thought maybe Avast antivirus was the issue, so I switched to AVG but there has been no change.

I have done a couple disk cleanups and a defrag, no changes.

Aside from a factory reset, what else can I do here? I've gone through startup programs and whatnot, but there is nothing that I can find that is affecting the speed. The computer is upgraded to 4gb of RAM, so memory shouldn't be an issue. Plus, being that the issue has been fixed previously by spyware removal, I don't think there is a hardware issue.

Apart from being slow while browsing the internet, I haven't noticed any issues running any other programs on the computer (e.g. Windows Explorer in documents, pictures, etc., VMWare virtual machine I previously had installed). Every now and again it'll take its time to open pictures, but nothing as severe as with Firefox.

Any ideas?

  • Jesse L (retired)

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    Posted November 3rd, 2017 05:00

    CarCrazy98,
    If it is only firefox causing the system to freeze you may want to uninstall and reinstall it to see if that helps. You may also run the diags on the system by following the information below.
    Turn on or restart the computer.
    When the Dell logo appears, press immediately. If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft® Windows® desktop, and then shut down the computer and try again.
    When the boot device list appears, highlight Boot to Utility Partition and press .
    When the Dell Diagnostics main menu appears, select the test you want to run.
    If nothing is reported as failing you can always Format and Reinstall Windows.

     

    Jesse L (retired)

  • CarCrazy98

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    Posted November 3rd, 2017 08:00

    I will go ahead and run the diagnostics in a little bit. I don't think it's isolated to Firefox, because I was using it the other night and going through documents and I opened a few PDFs and Adobe was not opening, and when it did it froze up in the same manner as Firefox. It may just be a coincidence, but with the issues I've been having, I don't think so.

  • harper_alex

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    Posted November 4th, 2017 06:00

    Please refer below fixes, methods & instructions which might resolve your issue::

    Quick fixes for Windows 10 computer freezing randomly

    Fix#1. Free up disk space on system disk

    Low disk space on system disk will slow down PC and even cause random Windows 10 freezing issue, so first, please make sure that you have enough free disk space on C drive. If not, you can try to clean up junk files to free up some disk space using Windows 10 disk cleanup. Or trying another better solution - to extend system drive using EaseUS free partition software.

    Fix#2. Disconnect All Devices

    Disconnect all external USB devices even including the mouse and keyboard from the computer and then boot up to check if they are the causes of random computer freezes.  

    Fix#3. Check for faulty hardware 

    Damaged hardware is one of the factors that can trigger computer freezing issue. But if the issue only happens in Windows 10, we can confirm that there is nothing wrong with your hardware.

    Fix#4. Uninstall Incompatible Programs

    Did you install any new programs before your computer freezing? If yes, it might the problem. Please try to uninstall them to see if it helps.

    Fix#5. Scan with SFC to repair corrupt system files

    Random hangs & freezes on Windows 10 sometimes happens when system files get corrupted. To test and correct it, run a Command Prompt as administrator, in the black Command Prompt window, type: sfc /scannow.Then press Enter on your keyboard. 

    Advanced solutions to fix random freezes on Windows 10 computer

    Getting tried of trying all these general methods one by one but none of them is useful? If yes, advanced solutions are offered in the next part to help. Please have a try!

    Method 1. Updating all device drivers to the newest 

    According to users, random computer freezing usually appears after Windows 10 update. And the reason might be incompatibility of hardware and drivers. To correct it, just update all device drivers.

    1) Click Start menu and click Settings tab.
2) Click Update & security.
3) Select Windows Update in the left pane and click Check for updates (make sure you have an active Internet connection).

    Method 2. Flash your SSD

    If you have Windows 10 installed on your SSD, you might experience random freezing on your computer due to older firmware. To fix it, just install the newest firmware on your SSD.

    1) Open your advanced power plan settings.
2) Expand open Hard disk and Turn off hard disk after, SET TO NEVER, and click/tap on OK.

    Method 3. Perform a system restore or a clean install of Windows 10

    If your computer still freezes frequently and randomly on Windows 10, you may try to either perform a system restore to roll back to the previous version or do a clean install of Windows 10 to find a fix.

  • CarCrazy98

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    Posted November 4th, 2017 07:00

    I ran through the diagnostics, and everything passed just fine. I've run it before, but I will run another SFC scan.

    This is Windows XP by the way, not 10.