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Post by somany on Mar 15, 2020 18:07:37 GMT
Could use some help understanding what might be going on with my computer and how to fix it.
It has been more or less freezing up lately. It starts off fine when I start up the computer but after just a few minutes, it often starts acting wonky. In ebay, it gets to the point where I can't do anything, but in poshmark I am be able to share my listings, but it eventually gets to the point where I can't do anything, even just click on the tab to move from one tab to another. It will make a ding sound when I try to click on another tab or close the tab I'm working in. I can click on excel and it will take me there, but not back to chrome. TBH, it just occurred to me as I was typing that that I should try another browser, which I will, but I'll keep explaining the situation in case anyone can provide any insight for me.
I have to end up shutting it down and starting it again. It's been going on for about a week now, and I have muddled through it because I was otherwise occupied being at my daughter's, but now I'm back home and trying to work, and it's annoying the crap out of me.
I've run malwarebytes and CCleaner at my sister's advice. Malwarebytes did nothing but CCleaner has helped, but it still doesn't seem quite normal. Like a couple of minutes ago I clicked to save something, and it seemed like it took it but it didn't move to the next screen. When I x'd out of the screen, it had not taken the save.
I've been wondering if I should try Geek Squad to see if they can figure out what's going on. Has anyone used them? My sister has used them a couple of times and has one good experience and one bad experience. The thing is I also have a battery problem in that it is almost completely exhausted. I don't ever use my pc on just the battery--it's always plugged in, so I don't think that's the issue but I'm concerned that's the response I would get if I take it in. I looked into getting the battery replaced, but I would have to send it to HP, which I don't want to do. I need another year or so out of it, just until I finish up with ebay, and then I could switch to a chrome book or tablet.
Any thought or advice is greatly appreciated!
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Post by denise15601 on Mar 15, 2020 18:29:17 GMT
I am hardly an expert, but my last desktop crashed after only 2 years. I got this new one, installed Chrome, which gave me a virus that actually took over my whole computer and assigned a different IP on it.
I was able to uninstall Chrome and went back to Edge and all has been okay.
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val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,760
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Post by val2525 on Mar 15, 2020 18:47:30 GMT
You may not have enough RAM.
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Post by jandsknight on Mar 15, 2020 20:37:45 GMT
Have you cleared History and emptied the re-cyle folder?
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Post by somany on Mar 15, 2020 21:12:53 GMT
Have you cleared History and emptied the re-cyle folder? Yes, that was part of what the CClean thing did.
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Post by somany on Mar 15, 2020 21:14:33 GMT
You may not have enough RAM. The computer is 3 or so years old so not new but not ancient. Not sure what the RAM is but think it would be ok for that age of computer.
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Post by somany on Mar 15, 2020 21:17:21 GMT
I am hardly an expert, but my last desktop crashed after only 2 years. I got this new one, installed Chrome, which gave me a virus that actually took over my whole computer and assigned a different IP on it. I was able to uninstall Chrome and went back to Edge and all has been okay. So I would need to uninstall and not just quit using it—hadn’t considered that. I guess I would lose all my saved passwords. Wondering if there is anything else I would need to consider before doing it?
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 15, 2020 21:34:47 GMT
Any chance your CPU or case fan is going bad or is bad?
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Post by somany on Mar 15, 2020 21:44:14 GMT
Any chance your CPU or case fan is going bad or is bad? How would I know if that was the case? There is no abnormal amount of heat coming off the computer, if that would be an indication.
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 15, 2020 21:55:46 GMT
If you can take the cover off and plug it in, see if the case fan is spinning. See if there is something in your bios showing the CPU temperature.
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val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,760
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Post by val2525 on Mar 15, 2020 21:59:09 GMT
You may not have enough RAM. The computer is 3 or so years old so not new but not ancient. Not sure what the RAM is but think it would be ok for that age of computer. Age has nothing to do with RAM. I'm using a MAC with extra RAM, and there are still days when I get warnings to shut down some browser windows because some are using to much RAM. If you have your browser open with multiple pages, and RAM-hog software open at the same time and don't have enough RAM, that will freeze up your computer.
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Post by somany on Mar 15, 2020 23:56:10 GMT
The computer is 3 or so years old so not new but not ancient. Not sure what the RAM is but think it would be ok for that age of computer. Age has nothing to do with RAM. I'm using a MAC with extra RAM, and there are still days when I get warnings to shut down some browser windows because some are using to much RAM. If you have your browser open with multiple pages, and RAM-hog software open at the same time and don't have enough RAM, that will freeze up your computer. So can I see that by going to Task Manager, and if so, what would I look for?
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Post by jandsknight on Mar 16, 2020 0:25:08 GMT
Pictures use a lot of memory. You could put them on external drives.
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Post by somany on Mar 16, 2020 1:11:07 GMT
Pictures use a lot of memory. You could put them on external drives. That may be it then. I had quite a lot of pictures in my recycle bin. Since it was cleaned out, I've had a couple of concerns but so far I haven't gotten completely hung up like I did before running the clean up. I will see how it goes for another day or two, and then delete chrome if I need to. Thanks for everyone's help!
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Post by denise15601 on Mar 16, 2020 1:21:05 GMT
When Chrome took over, my computer kept freezing up, and it didn't recognize my passwords.
Clear all of your history and cache.
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Post by unknown on Mar 16, 2020 3:44:11 GMT
Pictures use a lot of memory. You could put them on external drives. Pictures and video can use a lot of storage which is why you'd want to put them on an external drive. That's not memory/RAM.
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Post by unknown on Mar 16, 2020 4:02:00 GMT
Next time you turn on the computer (so have a fresh setup), start the task manager before you open any programs. You should be able to see what's putting the strain on your computer by that. Background processes that are taking a lotta CPU would show up in the task manager.
If it's not enough RAM, your computer kinda goes on 'hold' for a little bit while it writes to swap files to clear the memory for the next instruction. With enough memory, it just kinda smoothly works without pausing.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Mar 16, 2020 6:23:16 GMT
I think Unknown has it - sounds like your computer is 'thrashing' - you'd want to see what's in your startup, as well. Something is hogging memory somewhere and your task manager will show CPU usage.
Three years is young for a computer IMHO (mine is 10 years old), so if it's a problem with RAM, it's easy to increase it.
Photos just hog ROM. I wouldn't worry about those unless you notice that your C drive is full (another thing to look at) - click on "This PC" (on your desktop) ---> devices and drives ----> C: drive - right-click on C drive and it'll show you how much memory is used.
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Post by unknown on Mar 16, 2020 8:56:53 GMT
Beem around 20 years since I ran windows but do they still recommend defragging? That used to help with hard drive writing. And empty the frickin trash!
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Post by kat on Mar 16, 2020 13:03:37 GMT
Beem around 20 years since I ran windows but do they still recommend defragging? That used to help with hard drive writing. And empty the frickin trash! I know that my windows 10 laptop automatically defrags regularly, not sure which OS started doing that as a default. I agree with it most likely being RAM especially if using Chrome since it’s a huge resource hog. Another thing to look at is your antivirus software. Some people inadvertently have more than one running and that can cause each one to think the other is a conflict.
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Post by somany on Mar 16, 2020 19:22:16 GMT
This all makes my head explode!
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 17, 2020 13:09:44 GMT
How full is your hard drive? That could slow you down too. Also they go bad. I have had to replace a bunch of them.
Any way you look at it, make sure you backup every day. I use Carbonite and also have a USB hard drive backup.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Mar 17, 2020 23:52:10 GMT
Beem around 20 years since I ran windows but do they still recommend defragging? That used to help with hard drive writing. And empty the frickin trash! I have Win10 also and I have it set to defrag when I activate it. I also run disc cleaner. The old Mac OS had the must fun defrag too - it actually had a visual where you saw an image of the disc and could see the bad sectors being moved around as the defragmenting went along. It was hypnotic. Of course, that was back in about 1994 lol.
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Post by zoesam on Mar 18, 2020 19:07:53 GMT
Remind me, do you use TL? Known memory hog!
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Post by somany on Mar 19, 2020 3:21:03 GMT
I do not. I did for awhile, but never on this computer.
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 19, 2020 12:54:39 GMT
It could be your Internet Provider is throttling due to all the people online.
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Post by zoesam on Mar 19, 2020 18:56:07 GMT
I do not. I did for awhile, but never on this computer. Ok, that's what i thought. I'm having deja vu, b/c I remember you had an old thread with the same issues & pretty much the same answers, so I'm not gonna go into detail, but I recall telling you to check into the size of your photos. Yes, photos take a lot of space period, but also the size of your photos can make a big difference. Check your camera first to be sure you're not using the highest level of quality on pics & are going with some medium quality level. At the highest levels, each photo can easily be over a meg, just by itself. If you find that you are using the highest quality settings, I'd change that & delete as many of my old photos as you can. But check your old thread, as I know several of us went into detail on photo info. I have similar problems due to memory issues, to the point that I have to reboot & use CC Cleaner almost daily, but I know TL & some other resource hogs are the main culprit, along with my old PC. I have both storage issues as well due to photos, but I made huge inroads in that by changing to lower quality pics for Ebay & that makes a huge difference in storage (not in memory, but in storage). After I changed to taking lower res photos, I was also able to change how I use Picasa so that it didn't keep duplicates of everything (exports) b/c that was also eating up my storage. After you check your cameras & clean up your photos you don't need, I would check all your settings in whatever photo software you use. Memory & storage issues can def slow down your PC. Memory issues in particular can cause all kinds of weird symptoms & shutdowns. By changing the size of my photos for Ebay, I was able to hold onto my ancient WIndows 7 PC for another year LOL. I remember I was going through changing mine when you posted your last thread, so maybe a year ago, as I know I changed my whole system for photo storing, last Dec/Jan timeframe. Also, consider how many browser sessions you have open at once. If you have a lot, that can cause real slowdown (I usually have >20 & it causes me lots of problems) due to resource hogging, but I have an old PC. I doubt it's your browser itself, sounds like a PC issue.
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Post by somany on Mar 19, 2020 19:26:04 GMT
I don’t remember the other issue (but that is not unusual given my memory function over the last couple of years. I get lots of “you don’t remember that?? comments from friends and family).
I am now using my phone to take pictures so I will try to figure out what size they are, but from what you are all saying I’m guessing my problem was occurring because of the background removal I am doing. I often have multiple copies of the same photo until I get the background right plus I am doing multiple pictures in one session. I have been cleaning up pictures from old listings a lot. Also I wasn’t always shutting my computer down at night, which my sister says would reset the RAM. (She also told me my stored pictures wouldn’t make any difference to RAM.)
It hasn’t frozen up recently so that’s good.
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Post by zoesam on Mar 19, 2020 19:47:59 GMT
IDK about phone pic size, b/c I just got a phone a few weeks ago, but I do know there's a setting even on phones for quality level, b/c I went in & set mine before the concert in Vegas. The reason I mentioned the deja vu, older thread & possible date is that you can do a search on it & find it here :-)
I don't think photo storage is your whole problem, though it may be contributing, b/c photo storage doesn't really have anything to do with memory & yours sounds more like memory problems. That said, accessing that storage can get sluggish if you have a lot. I usually take around 800 pics at once, on an ancient PC. Since you have a new PC, you really shouldn't be so limited in memory or storage. That's why I would take a close look at the size of your pics! If you inadvertently have your camera (now phone) set to take the highest quality & you have so many, that can really eat up resources!
Your sis is right that pics don't affect RAM (not directly anyway) & while I personally don't reboot for as long as I can go (weeks when things are going well), it can help to reset things, so if you don't have an issue shutting down at night, go for it.
I think Chap is right that something is eating up your resources & you just need to determine what it is.
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