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Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows Vista and 7 => Topic started by: allengator on March 06, 2008, 10:59:40 AM

Title: Random Vista Lags and Crashes
Post by: allengator on March 06, 2008, 10:59:40 AM
I run Windows Vista Home Premium. It has been extremely unresponsive the past 48 hours. When certain programs run, they will hang up, or make other parts of the operating system crash. Here is a rough list of what I found:


    * Help and Support does not come up, and causes the taskbar to be unresponsive.
    * About 15 minutes into startup, Windows Live OneCare gives me an error message.
    * I can not install a virus scanner like Avast.
    * The "network" icon in the system tray is showing me as "not connected", and will not respond to left/right click". Other icons will work, however.
    * New tabs/windows in IE7 causes said program to crash
    * Basically, any program that needs internet connectivity hangs (messengers, updaters, etc.)
    * .wmv video files causes the Windows Media Player to crash, (but not .avi or music files, just video files. I downloaded some episodes of a tv show from Amazon). When anything runs on there, it responds to play/pause/etc. VERY slowly.
    * Anytime I try to create an icon, move it, or delete it, the window that shows "calculating time remaining" comes up, and never goes away.
    * System restore does not seem to function at all.

That is just all I can think of off the top of my head. In addition, anytime I run any of the above programs, even if it executes correctly, can only be shut off by using the task manager and "end process" button. Overall, the system seems to just be a tad bit slower than normal, but not really noticeable. I am currently trying to run an online virus scanner to see if anything pops up (which none of the anti virus programs can run with the exception of spybot, which just scans for spyware).

Another note is that when running of Safe Mode, most items, except Windows OneCare seem to function normally.  I have since then removed that and installed other antivirus software in its place, but I can only install it through safe mode, as it hangs up on regular mode. 

I'm afraid this points to a possible virus and/or complete reinstall of Vista.  Can anyone come up with an alternate idea to help me out? Thanks for any future replies!