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Programs randomly freezing

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johndrew
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Posted September 18, 2011 at 12:21PM

Something I have not seen in these Forums or experienced.

In the past three days I have had various programs freeze (Not Responding) for no apparent reason. They include Firefox, Outlook Express and Malwarebytes; this latter during an update, the others during normal use.

The only updates I have done recently are those to update my AV and anti-malware, Microsoft monthly updates and Firefox to 3.6.22.

I have carried out full scans for infections with nothing being found by AVG, Sptbot S&D, Spyware Terminator and Malwarebytes. Additionally the usual MS Removal Tool scan which was carried out during the recent update process showed nothing.

I have seen no similar reports but have no idea of the cause unless it is CMOS battery - but my clock is fine.

Can anyone offer any suggestion as to the cause or has anyone else experience this problem.

Many thanks in anticipation.

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johndrew

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 1:51PM

I have reinstalled the other 2 memory sticks even though I know one is faulty. I would have installed only the good one but the PC recognises this configuration as a 'memory failure' and will not boot. The PC runs a little better like this and I have ordered replacement memory from Crucial - it should be here soon.

lotvic & Woolwell

You are correct for the individual usage, I was quoting the Commit Charge value which I understand as the total memory in use; am I correct?.

In terms of individual usage, Firefox appears to be a bit of a hog at 163,964K and the System follows a 150,000K, everything else is way below with AVG, for example, at around 8,250K.

Snrub

Have been that route with nothing found or resolved. Thanks anyway.

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Woolwell

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 1:59PM

I have noticed that Firefox 7 is using a lot of memory (at 225,000k +) but I think it is mainly on this site. I have high memory readings with IE9 too with this site. I need to do some more comparisons and I am thinking of creating a thread about this site's memory usage if I am right.

I think that it be best not to tinker any more until the new memory arrives as, hopefully, this could sort the problem out,

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Woolwell

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 4:17PM

I wonder if this will help with Firefox Firefox memory use

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johndrew

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 10:17AM

Well I have installed the new memory and carried out a quick MemTest run which showed no errors at all so there should be no problem there.

I have installed the RAMBack tool you linked to but can find no 'button' for it. Have you found one?

When I ran Firefox it froze again and would not close using Task Manager or any other facility. I had to Restart the PC to clear it.

I have noticed that in Task Manager there is only a single entry in Processes when it freezes, but there are two in Applications. I find this strange but am uncertain if it is connected to the problem.

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johndrew

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 10:21AM

Should also have mentioned, that reading the memory usage article for Firefox it indicates that 'normal' usage is 100 - 150 so I'm just above the top of that.

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Woolwell

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 10:29AM

Do other browsers/programs work ok or is just Firefox now?

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johndrew

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 2:29PM

IE has entered a 'Not Responding' state but can be closed and restarted. I have also experienced my internet connection to refuse to disconnect even though there is no activity in or out. But it is generally Firefox.

If I could save all my Add-ons, passwords, sites and so forth I would completely remove and reinstall Firefox, but I'm not certain it would help to do this anyway as, like now, it is working. I feel certain there is a simple remedy but have no idea what it is or how to find it. You mentioned a complete XP re-installation a while back, but I'm unsure if that would resolve the problem either. There seems to be either a conflict of some sort or there is something broken, but where and by what - again I have no idea.

I ran Housecall (online scanner) in case my own AV was missing anything but nothing was found.

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johndrew

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 2:32PM

An articles like this don't help a great deal either!

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johndrew

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 2:54PM

I have found this article about Firefox not responding. It mentions the Profile folder and identifies it will have a .default suffix.

I have found the location and see I have two .default folders. Given that I am the sole user, could this be part of the problem or is it perhaps still down to some form of Registry corruption?

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johndrew

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Posted October 6, 2011 at 3:52PM

Having read an interesting article on problems affecting Firefox, I did a check of Plugin updates necessary and found FlashPlayer needed updating. It froze (Not Responding) during the update/installation process and again could not be shut down using Task Manager.

There really seems to be a problem somewhere.

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