PCWorks: Laptop Freezes

I'm having a weird problem with my laptop that no one seems
to have
heard of before.  My Toshiba, running WinXP Media Edition,
will freeze
occassionally when I try to open a new web page.  There is
no hour glass
or anything.  It just freezes.  Through trial and error I
have learned
that all I have to do is right click the task bar, select
"lock or
unlock the taskbar" and the page will open.  It doesn't
matter if the
task bar is "locked" or "unlocked". 
Sometimes it's hardly a problem at
all and other times it will freeze about every 3 or 4 times
I open a
link or page.



This problem started soon after I purchased the laptop about
8 months
ago.  It came installed with a trial version of McAfee AV
but I
purchased Zone Alarm Pro and installed it.  It seems that my
problem
started after that.  However, I also subscribed to Yahoo
Mail and it
installed all it's toolbars, etc.  I took it back to Office
Depot where
I purchased it but they said it was my ISP that was the
problem.
However, when I travel and use my wireless at a hotel, etc.,
it still
hangs up.  Also, it doesn't matter if I'm using wireless or
hooked
directly to my ISP cable.



This is a royal pain so any help you guys can give me will
be much
appreciated.

Rick Gillespie
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One way to start on this problem:
Boot to Safe mode with Networking.
If the problem goes away (And it almost certainly will)
you've verified 
that this is caused by some program that's loading at
startup.
My first candidate would be anything from Yahoo (Just
uninstall their 
programs in Control panel). If that doesn't help, disable or
uninstall 
ZA. It couldn't hurt to look in Control Panel for other
rogue programs 
as well.
I use Yahoo mail without any of its toolbars, and I believe
you won't 
lose any functionality. I rely on my router and the XP
firewall, and 
have long thought that ZA and the like are overkill for most
of us.


Dr. Rick Gillespie wrote:
> I'm having a weird problem with my laptop that no one
seems to have
> heard of before.  My Toshiba, running WinXP Media
Edition, will freeze
> occassionally when I try to open a new web page.  There
is no hour glass
> or anything.  It just freezes.  Through trial and error
I have learned
> that all I have to do is right click the task bar,
select "lock or
> unlock the taskbar" and the page will open.  It
doesn't matter if the
> task bar is "locked" or "unlocked".
 Sometimes it's hardly a problem at
> all and other times it will freeze about every 3 or 4
times I open a
> link or page.
> 
> 
> 
> This problem started soon after I purchased the laptop
about 8 months
> ago.  It came installed with a trial version of McAfee
AV but I
> purchased Zone Alarm Pro and installed it.  It seems
that my problem
> started after that.  However, I also subscribed to
Yahoo Mail and it
> installed all it's toolbars, etc.  I took it back to
Office Depot where
> I purchased it but they said it was my ISP that was the
problem.
> However, when I travel and use my wireless at a hotel,
etc., it still
> hangs up.  Also, it doesn't matter if I'm using
wireless or hooked
> directly to my ISP cable.
> 
> 
> 
> This is a royal pain so any help you guys can give me
will be much
> appreciated.
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ules.htm
Contact list owner <owner-pcworksimagicomm.com>
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=====================================================