Crashing

[Sammie]

My computer crashes a lot and also programs keep performing illegal operations all the time for no reason, even if i'm not on the program at the time, I don't have any viruses or trojans because i have checked. Does anyone have any idea as to whats wrong with my computer?

[allan k]

Are you using 98 or ME as they were always associated with those kind of problems? If so, it's time to upgrade. Also, AV's don't always find the culprits. It may make sense to look for it yourself. Take a look in the task manager & msconfig to see what's going on. Can you remember the things you did (e.g download/install, CHAT, update, new hardware, etc) leading up to when it began? Try uninstalling stuff a bit at a time. I used to get that problem with spybot sd. I think I set the security too high. So I uninstalled it but when a newer version came out I loaded it back on and now I have no more problems.

[Sammie]

thanks for your help, i have 98 but i dont want to upgrade because xp is really bad for problems and stuff anyway, i can't remember what i did which lead up to it doing this, but i'll check out what you suggested and look at the task manager, thanks!

[allan k]

XP's fine, go on, give it a go. Plus it's got a good database of drivers. *

[Cetti]

Hi Sammie - Our computer is 98SE and last year had exactly the same problems you have described. Now bear with me because neither myself nor hubby are techies - but will have a go at describing how the problem was resolved. The first thing we did was to replace the mains supply block with an 8-way Belkin Gold Surgemaster. This also protects the telephone line from surges and spikes. Next, is to fully check all your cable connections. We replaced an extension cable which was faulty - and these things together cured our computer problems. I do hope this not only makes sense but will also help you.

[tracymort]

what about spyware? i really do like xp, i don't know if it was on 98 but if anything does bu**er up a restore is very easy with xp.

[Phantaxus]

rather than the its time to upgrade your computer posts im going to try to resolve this for you by spending a little less of your money. illegal operations could be caused by a number of things it could be corrupted software or it could be a hardware fault. You need to try to determine which of these is causing the problem corrupted software is more likely. Is one bit of software causing the problem if so have you tried reinstalling it? sometimes you may need to uninstall it first. Symantec produce Norton Utilities which contains an application called Norton Windoctor this analyses your registry file and makes repairs to problems it finds. This has sorted a few of these prolems for me. You could try the ultimate repair and reinstall your operating system for this you will need you operating system boot disk, driver disk for the hardware in your system - which should have come with you machine (you will probably need one for graphics card/sound card/motherboard/modem) and ideally a friend who knows what they are doing. Make sure you back up your important files first.

[Phantaxus]

will just add you may have a recovery cd and boot floppy that was supplied with you machine this will restore your machine back to factory default settings and is usually fairly easy to use but it will wipe everything on your harddrive so back up first

[Pottsy]

I would guess the most likely cause is non WHQL drivers. Check start, control panel, hardware, for non certified drivers, find the windows certified ones and you should have no probs. There is nothing wrong with XP, urban myth nonsense. As with any operating system give it a chance and do a fresh install.