Not Responding

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Alright, yet another problem: A lot of the time that I use my computer, my programs seem to encounter problems, and end up not responding. This happens more often when I am running a lot of applications, but it also occurs when I am only running one or two. I recently updated my driver, so I don't think that is a problem...

Any ideas on what could be causing my programs to not respond?

 

It could be a lack of available RAM or other system reasources. Before I upgraded to 1GB of RAM, I couldn't run Adobe Photoshop while using WinAmp.

But as Tal asked, we really do need more specs on your computer to be of much help.

 

Alright, I'll get those as soon as possible (I'm not at my dad's house; I don't know anyways, and my friend who does know is unavailable until monday).

And which specs do you need? Any specific ones, or...?

 

Processor speed, hard drive size, operating system. amount of RAM, how much have you loaded up your hard drive. If you have cable of DSL and are always online some programs are always running to update themselves and this can slow you down as well. Do you have a video card or integrated graphics?

 

How much do you mean when saying many programs? Which programs (or how heavy if you can tell that) are the ones that crash when only running 1 or 2? What (kind of) programs are always on, even in background?

 

The most crucial element here is your RAM. How much do you have and what programs do you normally run. These two parts are the most important since they will determine how most of us will answer.

Some other useful information would be what processor you use, how large is your hard drive, graphic card, do you have enough fans to keep your system cooled, enough power, etc...

 

Alrighty then, I'll get those to you next week, as I can't find them out at my mom's house.

 

Hard Drives (186 GB each): WDC WD2000BB-55GUA0 (2 of them, one of which only has 44.8 GB left on it)

Display Adaptor: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers (what are these?):
NVIDIA nForce3 250 Parallel ATA Controller
NVIDIA nForce3 250 Serial ATA Controller

Processor: AMD Athalon(tm)64 Processor 3200+
22.2GHz, 1.00 GB RAM


I usually run IE, iTunes, AIM, as well as various windows of My Computer (if I'm working on cleaning my computer, etc). When I'm watching movies or playing games, I usually don't run anything else.

Maybe these will help... ^^^

 

What operating system do you run? The rest of the computer is a heck of a lot faster than mine. Do you have a lot of programs that keep checking for updates like desktop weather alerts and such?

By not responding do you mean that it lakes a long time for stuff to work, or that it doesn't work at all.
Are there some programs that do it more often than others. Lastly, do you restart your computer often or not?

 

I am on Windows XP Professional. McAffee checks for updates, as does Microsoft itself.

By not responding, I mean, it freezes up and gives me a "this program is not responding" message, and it either doesn't work after that, or takes a long time to start working again.

This happens the most with Windows Media Player and IE, but happens on various other programs as well.

No, I do not restart my computer very much. I leave it on all weekend, and sometimes shut it down over the week. Perhaps I should always keep it shut down during the week (I am not over at my dad's during the week, which is where my computer is)?

 

If you have broadband and are always hooked to the internet you can get a fair amount of spyware that can slow things down. I restart my PC at least once every two days, it help to reset things. If no one else uses it when your gone you may want to shut down while your gone. If this doesn't help you will need more than me, to bail you out. Lucky for you there are smart people on this site.

 

There you go then. Even I know that my computer works much better if I shut it down and restart it at least once a day. I think it's nuts to leave a computer on for longer than a day. What a waste of power, at the very least.

 

Alrighty, thank you very much. I will try this so called "Restarting" right away...


/me restarts computer

 

Wow...I want a 22.2GHz CPU!

As for leaving your computer on for long periods of time, it can mess things up a bit...but at my work, each computer in each bay (usually 6-7 computers per bay) have Intel Celerons running Windows XP Pro...and they are left on 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, and in during the month that I've worked there, none of the computers in my bay have had a single problem or hangup.