PC freezing; MP3 player not recognised etc. etc.

1196rachel

I have some problems with my PC which came to light recently when I tried to connect my new MP3 player. Basically, it wouldn't work on my PC, but worked fine on another 2.
This reminded me that my broken iPod had similar problems.

The PC also freezes if left running for more than a couple of hours - the only way to exit is to switch off at the socket.

I started thinking of other anomolies - if viewing video clips (usually via BBC news website) the video freezes, listening to online radio freezes after 1/2 hour or so. You have to close IE and start again. iTunes freezes.

I have a JAL PC (about 2 or 3 years old), running Windows XP with F-secure protection. I also use the internet via a Belkin wireless router (not enough phone sockets in the right places).

Any suggestions about what might be going wrong - and how I could solve it??

My F-Secure seems a bit over-zealous - is it anything to do with this?

Thanks!

superscaper

Might be worth going through the malware removal guide sticky to begin with and also using ccleaner. How much RAM do you have?

1196rachel

Oh... I didn't expect my shamefully inadequate understanding of computers to be highlighted quite so quickly :embarasse

How do I find that out?

superscaper

quickest way: Right click on "My Computer", click on "properties" and it should say how much RAM along with Processor speed and version of Windows.

superscaper

Malware Removal guide:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269
Crap Cleaner:
http://www.ccleaner.com

1196rachel

Apparently my PC is/has 2.00GHz, 512 MB of RAM.
I have run the ccleaner and already my PC is running much more smoothly.

Fingers crossed that this does the job, and I might be brave enough to reconnect my MP3 player again soon.

Thanks superscaper!

C_Ronaldo

just to add 1196rachel, do regular run of ccleaner, do you have anti virus

mazz1953

1196rachel wrote: »

Apparently my PC is/has 2.00GHz, 512 MB of RAM.
I have run the ccleaner and already my PC is running much more smoothly.

Fingers crossed that this does the job, and I might be brave enough to reconnect my MP3 player again soon.

Thanks superscaper!

I think you need some more memory, the amount of ram you have is not really enough for an internet based computer. The anti-virus probably uses quite a bit of memory and playing media files on the computer also takes up quite a lot of memory, hence the freezing of video and audio players.

I often get people asking to sort freezes etc on their computer and it is memory problems in 99% of cases.

Try adding another 512 mb of memory and you will probably find it makes all the difference to the speed and smooth running of the computer.

1196rachel

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

just to add 1196rachel, do regular run of ccleaner, do you have anti virus

I'm going to start with regular runs of ccleaner, thanks.

I'm using F-secure which I paid a fair bit for. Does anyone have experience of this Protection package? It was recommended to me - but it seems a bit overenthusiastic at times. A favourite used to be it 'thinking' iTunes was spyware.