norton

[1HandInMyPocket]

After you format, it's like a brand new PC again till it accumulates crap all over again bogging it down, again.

When was the last time you formatted?

I got my computer formatted again, a few months after I bought it in sept 2003, so I'd say early 2004 (from MDG). BTW, I got it formatted because I think I had some spyware or some was being hijack as my dos? window opened up.

I would suggest that it maybe your hard drive starting to fail. I would back it up if there are things you are afraid of losing.

If you aren't computer "savvy" you might consider having someone who is look at it.

I did get my computer serviced later by a computer store (in Markham) in 2005 to have my power supply replaced. I think I may go to them again as I found them to be helpful.

I do save several important files weekly by e-mailing them to myself to 2 different e-mail accounts. I started this way back after I had my power supply replaced. At the time my computer wouldn't start up and it freaked my out a bit. Even after the guy fixed the computer, when he started the computer it did not initially go to windows so he thought my info was lost, but lucky it wasn't.

Thanks WoodPeckr and hunter001.

If there any other suggestions in the mean time, I'll try them out.

 

[hunter001]

I got my computer formatted again, a few months after I bought it in sept 2003, so I'd say early 2004 (from MDG). BTW, I got it formatted because I think I had some spyware or some was being hijack as my dos? window opened up..

If your computer is from 2003 then it is getting up there. You might want to consider an upgrade to a newer machine there are good deals out there. You don't want to sink a lot of money into a PC that old.

 

[WoodPeckr]

If your computer is from 2003 then it is getting up there. You might want to consider an upgrade to a newer machine there are good deals out there. You don't want to sink a lot of money into a PC that old.

LOL!!!
Hold on there, that ain't old.

This PC I'm using now is a Pent2 from 1997!
Only made a couple critical upgrades to it namely;
$30 to max out the memory to 384MB many years ago
$40 to a faster bigger 120GB, 7200rpm, HDD
$15 PCI card w/5usb2.0 ports
$10 NIC card that really boosted cable modem up&download speeds
$0 for a corporate XP PRO install CD from work
Dual boot with Ubuntu....which makes it fly like new, it even runs XP pretty good!

Of course I know a little more about PCs now and did all this myself with guidance off the net to extend the usefullness of this old PC. It really still runs great, it's a Gateway.

Then I do have a new laptop with Vista but hate the small keyboard, I have big fingers, so still spend a lot on time on this old reliable PC....

 

[hunter001]

Of course I know a little more about PCs now and did all this myself with guidance off the net to extend the usefullness of this old PC. It really still runs great, it's a Gateway.

He isn't a do-it-yourself guy and MDG doesn't use a lot of quality parts.

 

[WoodPeckr]

He isn't a do-it-yourself guy and MDG doesn't use a lot of quality parts.

True, MDG doesn't have a good rep.
MDG opened a store in Buffalo, it folded after about a year.
They had some great prices but everytime I checked them out they gave excuses for why the sale item wasn't in stock and tried to upsell. Never liked their attitude.

 

[thewheelman]

Another option, is to get a hold of Hiren's Boot CD and use the HDD Regenerator Tool. It takes a while, but it does work well.

 

[LadiesMan69]

More options to Try

1 hand, since you are not comp guru like hunter or myself gonna give you a couple of simple options to try. I will focus on hunter's diagnosis of possible hard drive issue, temp files and disk space. Removing Norton or formatting HD are a little more extreme steps to focus on later.

1. Wheelman suggested using ccleaner which is good to install and remove all your temp files and registry crap. If it is just a temp file creating the problem, this is simplest and cheapest problem solver.
2. once you clean the unneeded files from your drive, check your disk space. If your disk space is low, this can also cause weird crashes on your computer. write back if this is the case and I will give you suggestions on cleaning up files not needed on your computer to free up space.
3. You mention that you do not use IE, however as much as Microsoft claims otherwise, IE is an integral part of their O/S (A lot of windows system bug fixes they do not want to publise are included in IE Updates). Make sure you have atleast IE 6 on your computer installed and go to the sun java web site and update your java before perfoming the next step.
4. Use an online virus scanner like Trend Micro or Kapersky and let it scan all your files. It will not cure the virus for you but atleast you can tell if issue is with norton or not.
5. If your computer still crashing, checking the hard drive would be next. I would recommend taking your PC to a tech, have them pull out your hard drive and plug it into a USB compartment on another PC and do a scan on it for problems with the hard drive itself
   

this is a lot of things you can try first. get back to the TERB community if you need further help.