W7 intermittent freezing while browsing internet

[brandon002]

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?

 

[brandon002]

correction... ram is 3GB

 

[TrainableMan]

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.

 

[TorrentG]

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.

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:

 

[TrainableMan]

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.

 

[brandon002]

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

 

[TorrentG]

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.

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.)

 

[brandon002]

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

It freezes less frequently, but still does it occasionally.

 

[GodAtum]

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

 

[TrainableMan]

Hostsman

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

 

[brandon002]

I uninstalled trendo micro internet security and installed Microsoft Security Essentials.. seems like things are ok for now. We will see though as it's gone a few days without freezing before.

 

[brandon002]

I spoke too soon... freezing is just as bad as before with random freezes every few minutes that last about 30 seconds.

I am honestly ready to chuck my laptop through a window on my way out the door to go buy a mac.

 

[TrainableMan]

The truth is freezes can be very difficult to pinpoint because there are so many things that can cause the issue.

AutoUpdates:
One of the major things I see is when software goes out to automatically check for updates. Adobe and Java love to go out and download updates and bring the computer to a stall. And of course your Anti-virus and Windows Updates also do this. I prefer to disable as much of this auto-updating and even the checks for an update so I am in total control of when the internet is accessed and utilized by my software; but I don't recommend this if you are a casual user who will not do the manual checks on a consistent schedule. A product like TCPView can be used to monitor internet activity.

Driver/Bios issues:
Probably the #1 cause ... Always, always make sure you have the latest drivers. And generally the latest BIOS (unless you have one of the early AMD Phenom Quad cores - Article)

AntiVirus:
(Brandon already tried this) Not all A/Vs are as efficient as others and can even cause problems resulting in BSOD. When trying to fix this elusive problem use the uninstall for your current A/V and try another product (write down your product key in case this does not fix your problem and you wish to reinstall). Microsoft Security Essentials works well for most people.

Hardware problems:
overclocking, under-voltage, over-voltage, bad ram, short in the mouse cable, dieing harddrive with lots of bad sectors; these things can all cause issues

Use the Search on this forum to find Freezing and you will find pages and pages of frustrated people and recommendations that will work for 1 person and not for 100 others.

 

[brandon002]

I've already disabled all my auto-updates... so that wasn't the issue for me. I do notice that when I run manual scans with my A/V after freezing it always detects a trojan, why doesn't it detect the trojan before it installs?

 

[TrainableMan]

MSE says you have a trojan virus? Download and run a full scan with Malwarebytes. Also download and run RKill (there are several exes (all really the same thing but named like the browser or windows explorer to trick the virus into letting it run). Freeware DB

Viruses can hide themselves and once infected often block normal virus scans from detecting them. Also deleting them from memory isn't usually enough because they restart at boot, hiding in inconspicuous files and even the ends of your jpg photos etc.

Of course there is also the possibility of false positives. In order to protect you against virus variations the software looks for patterns or pieces of code but sometimes it may hit on perfectly valid code. An example, one A/V may say another A/V on the computer is a virus.