update. Okay, it seems the problem is back with a vengeance despite my earlier tweak. And just now, the BSOD flash before me and a message appeared (too quickly to read, but something to the effect the pc has shut down to prevent damage?! WTF?!). When I do clean manager, tons and I mean TONS of error message dumps. Huge quanties nearing 149 MB in one case.
I dunno, I have a lot of programs and files I need on this PC, but seriously considering going back to XP. This operating system is an abomination.