[NotGolfer]

My laptop is a year old which has up til recently worked very well. Of late, while I'm typing it will "freeze" and not allow me to continue typing for several seconds. What would cause this and how can I fix it?? Thanks!

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Could be that your machine is downloading some automatic software updates "behind the scenes" that will bog things down.

Bill

[zcaveman]

Bring up Task Manager and see what the CPU usage is when this freezing is going on. You can keep your eye on the green box on the taskbar.

Z

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by NotGolfer

My laptop is a year old which has up til recently worked very well. Of late, while I'm typing it will "freeze" and not allow me to continue typing for several seconds. What would cause this and how can I fix it?? Thanks!

Have you recently upgraded your version of internet explorer? My computer couldn't handle the new version with my windows vista. I had to go back to the old version. I agree that you may also have too many start up programs running. I had similar problems recently and installed firefox to use for a couple of days to see if it happened in firefox, when it didn't that made me think it was internet explorer.

[2BNTV]

All of the above suggestions are good. I would denote exactly what program you are in and what you are doing when it freezes. If it is in IE, (IE 10 does not work with windows vista per Microsoft.

If you are in a word document that is not good. Reloading that program might help. I hate to say it but system freezes are sometimes a bad motherboard but I would exhaust all possibilities before considering that may be the problem.

[2BNTV]

..........

[NotGolfer]

I haven't downloaded anything new at all. I only use my machine for e-mail, surfing the web (news mostly), Facebook and TOTV. I rarely shop online since my computer got hacked sometime ago, before this machine was purchased.

I'm not too technically knowlegable so almost need a "word picture" added to the explanation. Thanks for your comments!!

[2BNTV]

I certainly hope you have virus protection and malwarebytes on your computer.

I would recommend "Microsoft Essentials" for Virus protection and "Malwarebytes" for malware protection. Both of these programs can be obtained by going to Google. Type in "Microsoft Essentials" and select the free copy for virus protection. The same for "malwarebytes" and select the free copy.

I would run scandisk on your computer if you haven't aready but I don't think tht is your problem. It wouldn't hurt as it compresses the information on the hard drive.

It sounds like your IE program is not running correctly. Try another IE program. If your running IE 10, try to run "firefox" as your surfing program.
"Firefox" can be obtained free thru Google.

I hope this helps.

[NotGolfer]

I do have virus protection, firewall etc etc. I'll probably have to defrag or some such thing.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

I certainly hope you have virus protection and malwarebytes on your computer. I would recommend "Microsoft Essentials" for Virus protection and "Malwarebytes" for malware protection.
I would run scandisk on your computer if you haven't aready but I don't think tht is your problem. It wouldn't hurt as it compresses the information on the hard drive.

Originally Posted by NotGolfer

I'll probably have to defrag or some such thing.

Re Microsoft Essentials and Malwarebytes, once they are dowloaded, do they automatically scan on a regular basis or do you have to activate them?

What is Scandisk and how do you run it?

How do you defrag?

I'm embarassed to ask these nerdy questions because I realize I should already know the answers. I really have to start paying attention to these "housekeeping" chores that keep a computer healthy and happy.

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Originally Posted by Bill-n-Brillo

Could be that your machine is downloading some automatic software updates "behind the scenes" that will bog things down.

Bill

This is exactly what I thought. I use to have a HP laptop that would do this all of the time. HP has some HP center software that kept looking for updates and downloading without warning

[chuckinca]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

How do you defrag?

I'm embarassed to ask these nerdy questions because I realize I should already know the answers.

All Programs
Accessories
System Tools
Disk Defragmentor
Defagrament

Should be done about every month.

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by chuckinca

All Programs
Accessories
System Tools
Disk Defragmentor
Defagrament

Should be done about every month.

Barefoot:

Thanks Chuck as I meant defrag but there is also a disc clean up function.
Defrag helps condense all info on the hard drive and disc cleanup with get rid of swap files.

[Virtual Geezer]

Disk Defragmentor and Defagrament are not as important as they once were. It will all depend on how much downloading one does and how big the users hard drive is and how old the computer is. In most cases in today's computer world you will not notice any difference in the overall operation of the computer after it has been defragged.

At home the desktop spins 1 terabyte of hard drive and my home server spins 3 terabytes. I have never defragged either and never will. I do a LOT of downloading and a lot more installing and removing programs on a regular basis. With the speed of todays mother boards, processors and the overall design the the computer defrag is a thing of the past.

VG

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by chuckinca

All Programs
Accessories
System Tools
Disk Defragmentor
Defagrament

Should be done about every month.

Thanks Chuck, your reply was helpful. I went into Disk Defragmentor and ... surprise ... I found that I'm automatically defraging once a week. It must have been set up automatically when I bought my Acer laptop.