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Windows 7 win7 laptop sudden freezes

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hotsub

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Hello My Link Removed is a win7 Gateway NV59 Processor: Intel(r) Core(TM) i3 cpu M330 @ 2.13GHz 2.13GHz RAM: 4.00 GB (3.86 GB usable) System type: 64-bit Opeating System

2 days ago this laptop was working fine good barely any lagg or anything being slow. Suddenly the next day in the morning as I turned my Link Removed on it was fine then I went on my Google Chrome and started browsing I noticed a little bit of lag through out the day. The next day it was fine at start no problem logging on and starting, but when I went to my start bar or went to surf the internet or try anything even go open a folder. I get LAG it freezes I dont know what to do, please help me. Even if I go to my start menu bar and open Control Panel it FREEZES I even try opening different programs it laggs and Task manager is saying my CPU usage is at 10-20% and memory is at 1-1.2 gb usage... Please help me I dont know what to do! I try doing some things that will help me through youtube but none helped. Please it was perfect 2 days ago it was running amazingly barely any lagg or freeze now even if I just try to open something or even go to start menu or go to my computer or even my accounts profile it FREEZES I have to do ALT CRTL DELETE just to stop the lagg and end process of it. Please Help me! This lagg is annoying its really constant it happens only when I open something or even if I go on desktop and right click to REFRESH it sometimes makes my desktop look like its just blank with the background picture. Please!HELP!
 


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Welcome to the site.

The most likely cause sounded like a virus. Download www.malwarebytes.org free version and run a scan. Remove any threats it finds and restart. If the computer is still slow try a disk defrag and download and run CCleaner to cleanup temporary junk on your PC.

If all the above fail, you can run a system restore.
 


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Thank you I am happy to be here.

I tried cc cleaner and defrag that minimizes the problem and makes it less occur to lagg and freeze but it only lasts 1 day at most cases. How does system restore work?

EDIT: I cannot find any system restore points before the 20th please help me.
 


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Restore points are deleted are as new ones are added - it's set up to only use a certain percentage of your drive for restore (they're big). Type msconfig in the start menu and go to the Start Up tab, take a screenshot or list the programs which run and post them here. Too many background programs will slow your boot and subsequent performance of your computer.
 


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OK, lots to clean up here.

These ones can be disabled:
OOTag, Raid Event..., Google Toolbar, Search Prot..., Driverupd, Akamai NetS..., Search Prot... (again), Java Platform, Gateway MyBackup (unless you use MyBackup), Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, Widgi Toolbar and Skype (unless you like having Skype start with your PC.

To disable them just uncheck the box and then press OK. Now restart your PC, you should notice a significant gain in performance. If you disabled something and it turns out you need it, just go back into the msconfig and check it again. You'll also be presented with a dialog saying you changed the system blah blah blah, just check off "don't show this or launch the system configuration utility" and you're set.

Let me know how it goes.
 


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Okay I just did that and im not gonna lie... This helped me A LOT right now I am not experiencing any problems, but if something comes up again I`ll know where to go. :) Thank you very much so far its going good! :)))))))))))
 


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Great, glad to hear.

Also, I don't know if you use them (or even have them enabled) but I see there was entries for both Google and Yahoo toolbars. If you don't use them, I'd recommend uninstalling them. they have a tendency to take up a lot of screen real estate in browsers and have a big impact on browser loading times.
 


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EDIT: haha thanks and im sorry but It did help a lot but im still getting freeze but its less. Do I need to change my hard drive? or something?? because this is what task manager says and I took this picture while it got a freeze. Link Removed
 


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Howdy hotsub:
funny you should say that. :o you didn't mention the make/model of your hard drive, that would be helpful to know. but according to the Gateway page, your BIOS date says that laptop will be 3 yrs. old this July. Hard drives in laptops typically fail between 3-5 years; right AFTER most extended warranties expire. I worked on a Acer aspire laptop last year in December for about 5 weeks and went through removal of all non-essential startup programs as you did; found a bad battery-replaced it. windows still froze. all the tests i ran showed the Motherboard was overtemped *cooked*, so I replaced that. windows still froze. after getting help on the online tech forums, I finally had no choice but to replace the hard drive. I ran restore points, reformatted the hard drive (both high level and low level), reinstalled windows multiple times. Everything. Information in the Event Viewer and System logs were inconclusive, and none of the experts would tell me to replace the drive--but I did. And being one of the toughest problems I've worked on in 25 yrs. it finally solved the problem! :) The original hard drive passed every single test I could throw at it; and said it was ok. Windows reinstall seemed to work and the system booted fast and all the programs worked. However, when I returned to customer; it still froze up 6-10 times per day. Nothing I tried worked until I replaced the hard drive. That's stayed fixed since Jan. 2nd of this year and still running ok.

The point I'm making is that hard drives in laptops get banged around a lot more than in desktops because they get physically moved around a lot more than desktops. Hard drives in laptops are designed like I said for 3-5 yrs. But, I've seen hard drives fail in laptops from anywhere from 2 months to 10 years. An awful lot of them fail at 13 months, 25 months, and 37 months; coincidentally right after 1 yr., 2 yr., & 3 yr. extended warranties seem to expire. I've probably done a dozen laptops with failed hard drives in the last year that were between 2 yrs. old and 4 yrs. old. It's the number one cause of laptop failure. Motherboards and display screens also fail, but not nearly as often.

You have a couple of choices. One is take your laptop to an A+ certified computer technician or to a reputable computer store such as Best Buy-Geek Squad who employs certified technicians. Have them test your hard drive out for you. It will cost you $60 or more, but if they find it's defective, you can replace it and have them do for you and move all your personal data over from your existing drive to the new drive. And if you buy the hard drive from them (depending on which Store you go to), they will not charge you for the data transfer. Just the cost of the testing $60, plus cost of hard drive maybe $50. A $100+ repair unfortunately.

The 2nd choice is to DIY, and test the hard drive yourself, make the determination it's bad, buy the new hard drive at a computer store or online and replace yourself. Of course this is the cheaper option. If you've never done this before, you'll probably want to go the above router and have a certified computer expert assist you. If you've got some computer savvy and want to try, I suggest you borrow the UBCB linux tools disk from a techy friend and run the "GSmartControl" program to test your hard drive. You can also download the windows version (if your laptop will run long enough without freezing to run the test) at: Link Removed. Run both the Short Test and Extended test on the internal hard drive. Even if it passes, there's a good chance the hard drive is the culprit and will still need to be replaced. However, if it does fail one of the 2 tests, then there's no doubt about it--the drive is faulty.

Viruses can also mimic hard drive freeze problems, as Mitchell_A mentions; the Malwarebytes program is excellent, and you can also scan with TrendMicro Housecall and RootKitBuster. I suggest you run both in SAFE MODE. If you don't know how to run SAFE MODE, message me back and I'll give you directions.

My money is on the hard drive given the symptoms, and the solutions you've already tried. Diagnosis with manufacturer software tools such as DataLifeGuard for Western Digital drives are also helpful; but not always conclusive.

Another thing you can try, which I did, is to borrow a working SATA laptop drive from a friend or techy, and install Windows from the Gateway recovery disks that came with your laptop on it. If Windows installs *you probably are running Win7 right?* ok and runs for a week with no freezes, you have identified your original hard drive as the culprit! This is how I solved my Acer problem.

Good luck with resolving your problem and message me back here with any more questions or results of tests I suggested.

BIGBEARJEDI :computer:
 


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Thank you for your support, I have read what you wrote and really thought hard. I have a Canada computers store near my home where I bought the laptop from 2 and half yrs ago. Should I go there and see if they can do something to help me about this and even replace my hard drive and get a new one? or should I just go buy a new laptop. Because the battery is also like dead.... the only way to keep it on is having charger on 100% of time if not the laptop turns off in 8 minutes max. Please tell me your suggestion?
 


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One can't simply assume a hard drive is failing. You can put it through a stress test to determine if it actually is. The easiest way to do so is open command prompt as an administrator and type "chkdsk /f" and press enter, it will tell you the test will take place the next time your PC starts. Restart your PC and see if any errors are found. It the test doesn't finish (or freezes for hours on end), that's indicative that your drive is done. If it does find some errors and fixes them, don't be too concerned.

Post back to tell us how that went.

Replacing the battery in a laptop usually runs $50-100 and the same can be said for a hard drive. You can get computers that are equally as powerful as this one for little more than $350 so if it does come down to replacing parts you may want to consider an upgrade to a brand new PC.
 


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Okay I did chkdsk /f and it did somethings it didnt freeze during the proccess took about 10 minutes at most. Finished and I just restarted and came straight to this website. So far I am not experiencing any type of lagg or freeze. but, I will keep you posted if something occurs again.

Also if this still continues after an hour or day, I might just get a new hard drive or ask the people at Canada Computers whats wrong with it, if it costs too much I will probably buy a new laptop. I`ll keep you posted. :)
 


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If you want to make your computer blazing fast you may want to consider upgrading to a Solid State Drive (SSD). While they're significantly more expensive, I guarantee you it will be worth the added performance. You'll never have to wait for your computer again (assuming there's not a problem with any other component which is causing the slow down).

Conventional hard drives are the bottleneck of modern PC's.

Looking forward to your reply.
 


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Hi sorry it has been a wile since I've replied here. I am currently on my sisters laptop, mine the google chrome wont even open.... the spinning thing loads fast then nothing comes and fire fox doesnt open nor does internet explorer so the laptop is toast. I might buy a new one... I hope its not too much can you guys help me find a good gaming computer or just a good one thats very cheap from CanadaComputers? that's the only computer store place I know near me. Thank you for everything all of you have done hard work just to help me and your hard working time has been a waste bcuz the laptop is already toasted. Once again thank you all I hope you can help me once more. I don't know what laptop is good or what the things it has on it means I just want a good one for gaming and work use that isnt cost a lot. Thank you!
 


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Sure, you want it from CanadaComputers? What's your budget? I'll compare models to get you the best bang-for-buck.
 


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Yes I want one frm CanadaComputers, and the budged would be $500 at max I can spend. Thank you.
 


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