I cannot figure this one out!

[Computer_Commando]

Dell Latitude D820
If it's full of dust & overheating, that will cause it to freeze & be slow.

[kinghollio]

Maybe so. I did open it up and reseat the RAM and Wireless card and there is not much dust in there but if all else fails, i will take the laptop apart and give it a good cleaning.

[Linux711]

I don't understand why you have not checked which process is using up the cpu. chances are one process is using the majority of the cpu and making your computer slower. just look at task manager.

[kinghollio]

Thats the first thing that i looked at. The CPU utilization. After it freezes I open task manager and with no programs running it has 98% utilization and all being used by task manager. I initially thought it was AVG and stopped all services but this did not fix. I suspect a hardware problem or needs a good cleaning as already suggested...

[Computer_Commando]

Not Applications Tab, Processes Tab.  Sort by CPU.

[truenorth]

Given this earlier comment from you "I hard wired in and the internet seems to be working ok now so I am assuming it is the WI fi card that has kicked the bucket....". Sometimes one can get a great improvement in internet speed and access performance by cable connecting to the ISP rather than wireless.That does not necessarily mean that the wireless card is faulty. However given that you suspected that your issue may have a connection to a faulty wireless card and that by cable connecting you state that the performance is ok. So what is the status of your issue if you do NOT use wireless? If the issue is resolved and you believe the wireless card is at fault then it would seem to me that you may have solved your own cause of the problem. So unless the problem originally stated still exists when cable connected you should either continue with that or change the wireless card.Am i missing something?truenorth

[Computer_Commando]

It's a notebook, so changing a wireless card can be expensive.  I would try reinstalling the driver.  Gotta get the right one for your particular laptop, I see more than one kind of WiFi.

[truenorth]

I was not necessarily implying that the replacement needed to be an internal. I use an external replacement connected by USB port on my laptop. It is used not for the reason of the O/P (which may be a faulty one) i did so to obtain greater range of reception of wi=fi signal. It has achieved that function. If indeed the issue as suspected by the O/P is in fact the issue an external may solve the hardware issue and give the added benefit of better reception.truenorth

[kinghollio]

Truenorth, with wi-fi disabled i have the ethernet cable plugged in and while it was working fine for a few minutes the initial problem came back again. I bought a new HDD and installed Win7 on it and all drives are updated and still the issue shows.

[truenorth]

Understood==and given CC's suggestion of post # 19 how does that fare? truenorth

[Computer_Commando]

Mot ready to rule out hardware, at this point, but it's sure looking like malware.

[kinghollio]

i meant, in applications tab there were no applications running and then in the 'processes' tab it showed a 98-100% utilization with task manager using all of it. So there is no process hogging all the CPU cycles as far as i can tell.
Thanks for all the replies and i do hope i get to the root of the problem.

[Computer_Commando]

Task Mgr at 98-100% utilization, mine is at 00-01.  Do you mean the CPU Usage is at 100%?

[kinghollio]

yes CPU usage at 100% and i watched what service was hogging it and it was taskmgr. Very strange that it was using so much but it is obviously something else.
I have now reinstalled Win7, disabled wi-fi and am currently hard wired to the internet and i have experienced no freezes in the past 15minutes so fingers crossed that all is well. I probably jinxed it now, lol

[Computer_Commando]

It sounds like malware.  When you are wireless, are you sure you are connected to your modem/router & not a nearby one?