Windows Me freezes up while connected to internet

I have Windows ME, IE and Mcafee and all is updated.
For a little over one week now, almost every time I am
online doing anything, after about 10-15 minutes,
everything locks up. Ctr, Alt, delete will work some times
but the majority of the time it does nothing. Only option
is turn off computer and then scan disk for errors when
turned back on. This may have started right after an
update for IE or Mcafee. I am just not sure. It does seem
that it happens more when I am connected to internet than
just doing offline work. But it did do it when I tried to
do a system restore. When came back on, had error message
that it was unable to restore. When tried to restore
again, no dates were shown on calendar. Now I do not know
what to do. I am not very computer saavy so please explain
how to fix with that in mind. I can however follow pretty
good directions.
Thanks for your help.
Judy

Baba
Tue May 03 14:42:03 CDT 2005

I'm also a computer novice. I feel, you may at least check your system for
some possible adware/ spyware/malware or virus infection during the update
downloads.

Windows ME is well known for instability. I've observed in case of my Win
ME that sometimes it takes time to execute the command. I just wait and many
times it works.

System Restore, I think, can't restore to a point older than a day or two.

"judy" wrote:

> I have Windows ME, IE and Mcafee and all is updated.
> For a little over one week now, almost every time I am
> online doing anything, after about 10-15 minutes,
> everything locks up. Ctr, Alt, delete will work some times
> but the majority of the time it does nothing. Only option
> is turn off computer and then scan disk for errors when
> turned back on. This may have started right after an
> update for IE or Mcafee. I am just not sure. It does seem
> that it happens more when I am connected to internet than
> just doing offline work. But it did do it when I tried to
> do a system restore. When came back on, had error message
> that it was unable to restore. When tried to restore
> again, no dates were shown on calendar. Now I do not know
> what to do. I am not very computer saavy so please explain
> how to fix with that in mind. I can however follow pretty
> good directions.
> Thanks for your help.
> Judy
>

Shane
Tue May 03 16:16:35 CDT 2005

I have to wonder how you can judge that *Windows ME is well known for
instability* when you don't know enough not to state that *System Restore, I
think, can't restore to a point older than a day or two*.


Shane


"Baba" <Baba@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:63D5DB0B-0C69-4DF3-8392-5F193191C43A@microsoft.com...
> I'm also a computer novice. I feel, you may at least check your system for
> some possible adware/ spyware/malware or virus infection during the update
> downloads.
>
> Windows ME is well known for instability. I've observed in case of my Win
> ME that sometimes it takes time to execute the command. I just wait and
many
> times it works.
>
> System Restore, I think, can't restore to a point older than a day or
two.
>
> "judy" wrote:
>
> > I have Windows ME, IE and Mcafee and all is updated.
> > For a little over one week now, almost every time I am
> > online doing anything, after about 10-15 minutes,
> > everything locks up. Ctr, Alt, delete will work some times
> > but the majority of the time it does nothing. Only option
> > is turn off computer and then scan disk for errors when
> > turned back on. This may have started right after an
> > update for IE or Mcafee. I am just not sure. It does seem
> > that it happens more when I am connected to internet than
> > just doing offline work. But it did do it when I tried to
> > do a system restore. When came back on, had error message
> > that it was unable to restore. When tried to restore
> > again, no dates were shown on calendar. Now I do not know
> > what to do. I am not very computer saavy so please explain
> > how to fix with that in mind. I can however follow pretty
> > good directions.
> > Thanks for your help.
> > Judy
> >

Firewire
Wed May 04 06:36:46 CDT 2005


"judy" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:03aa01c54c66$88877100$a501280a@phx.gbl...
>I have Windows ME, IE and Mcafee and all is updated.
> For a little over one week now, almost every time I am
> online doing anything, after about 10-15 minutes,
> everything locks up. Ctr, Alt, delete will work some times
> but the majority of the time it does nothing. Only option
> is turn off computer and then scan disk for errors when
> turned back on. This may have started right after an
> update for IE or Mcafee. I am just not sure. It does seem
> that it happens more when I am connected to internet than
> just doing offline work. But it did do it when I tried to
> do a system restore. When came back on, had error message
> that it was unable to restore. When tried to restore
> again, no dates were shown on calendar. Now I do not know
> what to do. I am not very computer saavy so please explain
> how to fix with that in mind. I can however follow pretty
> good directions.
> Thanks for your help.
> Judy

How much RAM do you have and is your hard drive full? Remove unused software
and old files, then run disk defrag. When you do a Ctrl-alt-del, is there a
long list of programs running? Open any program that you do not need to run
in the background. Find the program options and uncheck where it says to
start the program on reboot. [For example you don't need to run a word
processor program on startup]

Download and install Ad Aware SE or Spybot Search And Destroy. I prefer Ad
Aware but I use them both. Your problem sounds like your computer is
overwhelmed and running out of system resources. Spyware can drain your
system resources. The personal editions of both are free.
Ad Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
SpyBot S&D
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22262,00.asp

As a quick fix to test if running less in the background will help, do a
ctrl-alt-del, close a few things that are running. *Do no close Explore or
Systray.* And for now, do not close your firewall or anti virus. See if
that helps. Also if you are going online, make sure your Anti Virus is not
running a scheduled scan. An anti virus scan will use up system resourses.

To trouble shoot the cause of the issue you describe, make a mental note of
what you are doing or have been doing immediately before you see this freeze
up happen. A fresh reboot after working with graphics could clear the
system resources and might help you go online for another task.