W7 intermittent freezing while browsing internet

I recently had to replace the SATA hard drive on my HP Pavilian DV6258SE lap top. I installed a fresh/purchased copy of W7 32bit, updated all drivers and my lap top has an intermittent freeze when on the internet. This happens with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. After about a minute everything works fine for a little while, until it freezes again for another minute.

Now my computer functions perfectly otherwise, it never freezes the operating system or any other programs, just IE and Firefox.

I've already tried removing add-ons in firefox and adding them back one at a time. It still froze even with all ad-ons removed.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
AMD Turion 64 x2 Mobile TL-56 1.80 GHZ
2 GB Ram

At first I was getting the "not responding" message on internet, ran windows updates and that went away. Now it's just an intermittent freeze.

I have updated my bios and double checked that all drivers were up to date.

What else can I do?

correction... ram is 3GB

Do you use a large hosts file to block web-trash etc?

Are you using a mouse?

What Anti-virus do you use?

I will explain why I ask.

If I don't use a hosts manager the sheer size of my hosts file (over 25000 entries) causes my system to freeze up about every 15 minutes when the DNS entries are refreshed from the internet.

I had a short in my trackball wiring and it would "studder" as I moved it. It turned out it the device was being disconnected and reconnected as the wiring moved.

A/V programs are process intensive and make everything else wait; some are better than others. Try uninstalling (not just disable) and see if the problem persists. If this solves your problem then Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is a fairly decent free AV that you might try instead.

You might also look over this huge thread on Freezing.

Disable the DNS Client service and problem solved.

if you wish, you can also set your router to use the fastest dns server that the app in my attachment finds:

Thanks, but etalmar's suggestion to use the Hosts Manager freeware tool solved my problem; it removed duplicates and reorganized the entries and "tada" no more issue. I merely mention it in case it could be the OPs situation.

I use trend micro internet security and the touchpad that's on my laptop.

Cool. I suggested it also because it's what I do on my machines, so it was natural for me to say. DNS cache can become poisoned, although admittedly, it is rare and usually (but not always) involves malware. Disabling the service eliminates the possibility. (I'm of the type that only has what is needed running.)

Update... changed the power setting to "High Performance"

It freezes less frequently, but still does it occasionally.

Do you have a link to the hosts manager software you recommend?

Hostsman

See Etalmar's original freeware suggestion and others HERE.
Also see the freeware that actually made the forums Suggested Freeware List