Any computer geeks ?

[Lancer]

I've been messing with computers since High school, and I'm usually the one giving friend's and family advice but I just can't figure this out.Almost EVERY time I use internet explorer, the program locks up at random times of use, and I have to alt-ctrl-delete to turn it off (the IE only) and then start up again. I'm running Windows ME on a Pentuim III and use a cable modem.Any takers?

[Vibe Rater]

What version of Internet Explorer?

[d_m_kolb]

I'd first off run a self diagnosis of Internet explorer. Go to Start. Then programs. Then click on accessories. Now click on system tools and then click on system information. Now you'll have a program running called microsoft system information. Go to tools in the top of the program and click on Internet explorer repair tool. The rest is selfexplanitory.If that doesn't work, let me know and I have more tricks to try.Might as well run scan disk and de-frag the hard drive while your at it.To be save download and update your anti-virus and do a full scan of your system.If after all this it still doesn't work let me know.

[MrMke]

Well, your first mistake is your operating system.......ME?You should get something a little more stable.......like W2000

[PBFlash]

I agree with Admin II's suggestions. Also, if you haven't already upgrade to IE 6.1.

[d_m_kolb]

The operating system is fine. Upgrading to a different operating system is just more options on top of a all ready ok operating system. Half the options will never even be used. I use windows 98 and have no plans to ever upgrade unless my programs stop working. I wouldn't worry about the operating system.

[Triton]

Windows 98 SE is a good operating system. I'm sorry to disagree with you on this one Derek, but Windows ME sucks. It was a coble job by Microsoft between Windows 98 and 2000. It is not a stable system. It's not only features that they add to operating systems, there are a lot of things going on in the background that people never see but are extremely important to how the operating system works.My recommendation is back down to Windows 98 SE or upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP (Pro or Home editions are great). I too have been working with computers for about 17 years and I currently have a job at a computer support help desk. I also have an A+ Certification and I am currently working on a Microsoft Windows 2000 MCSE with plans to upgrade to the 2003 MCSE after that. I am not trying to blow my own horn here or anything (I really hope it doesn't sound like it), I am just saying that I have worked with a lot of operating systems from Microsoft and these are what I would recommend.BTW, Windows XP comes with IE 6 and you can download service pack 1 once you install it.Oh yeah...I'm not a geek either. LOL!!! Well, maybe a little bit.

[Frosty]

This happens to our machine occasionally as well.We have Windows 98 and could use more RAM most likely. It is my daughters machine really, she doesn't push it hard enough to matter. I have got in the habit of shutting down items in the system tray that are not being used.....Kazaa, real player, HP digital camera detector.... and others. It helps a lot as they are all competing for limited resources.BTW, my Mrs. affectionately calls me a geek. My geekiness pays the bills

[millster]

I will have to agree with Triton here except to say that I would lean more toward 2000 or XP. I've never had any luck with the 9x operating systems (95, 98, ME). All have needed constant attention and reinstallation. I'm not saying 2000 and XP are perfect, but they are much improved in terms of lasting stability. If you have to stick with a 9x product definitely go with 98 SE, but for the price and the product support, go with XP or 2K. Oh, and I will say I'm a full on geek. Yes, a lot.

[meathead333]

i have 2 laptops, one with ME and one with 2000 Pro. the ME sucks, always get the blue screen. turned it in to be fixed 3 times now, then again it was a compaq. my HP with 2000 works great!

[Stang2Vibe]

Ahh, yes, the infamous "blue screen of death" as I have so often heard it called. My roommate has windows '98 on his aged system with all its resources pushed to the max. This problem has occured more than many times. My mom has ME on her Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop that is only about 1 1/2 years old and has plenty of memory and resources available. Her system crashes occasionally as well. I have heard from many sources that ME was a quickly put together system and wasn't even close to having all the bugs worked out. Also have heard that the ME system was relatively unstable and a lot of freezups should be expected. I have Windows XP Home edition with IE 6.1 on my Dell Dimension 8200 with the Pentium 4 processor. I have plenty of memory and system resources, and have only had IE crash once or twice in the 1 1/2 years that I've had this system. I'd say that the problem is largely with the ME operating system and won't be sufficiently fixed until the OS is changed to a better one like Windows 2000 or one of the XP versions. XP took a little bit of getting used to, but now I really like it. I think it is even easier to use than the older systems and can perform more complicated tasks.

[Sputnik]

I just got rid of ME... it was evil, pure evil. I've now got XP running. Like it so far.

[rasermon]

I agree, Micro$oft Windows XP (HE) is worth the $100. One other thing I would like to add. Spyware apps hiding on your computer without your knowledge can cause problems with Internet Explorer. The best program out there right now is Ad-aware. http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ This is a free program that will search out the "spyware" and then kill it at your command. It is a frustrating problem but at least there are solutions. It is a small download so it should be fast.

[millster]

quote:Spyware apps hiding on your computer without your knowledge can cause problems with Internet Explorer.Definitely. I ran into this when I first upgraded from ME to XP. Internet Explorer would just randomly close when I would navigate between pages. I ran Ad-Aware just to get rid of a few things and wound up removing Gator. Turns out that was the problem with IE. Here's a link to another program that I like a little better than Ad-Aware (Ad-Aware hasn't been updated for a while) called Spy-Bot Search and Destroy.http://security.kolla.de/

[Lancer]

Thank's for all your advice! Nothing has worked yet and it is time for a OS upgrade. I'll take that route.

[Stang2Vibe]

Good luck with the upgrade and be careful if you're doing it yourself. I've heard horror stories of people crashing hard drives from making a mistake with an OS upgrade.

[d_m_kolb]

I should have said this before but I don't have any experience with ME? I do know that when Microsoft comes out with a new operating system it's just the same operating system as before but with more options. I'm sure they make improvements but I have never felt it was worth my money to upgrade if I'm happy with my 98 SE. This is only my opinion so don't take it as fact. One thing I'd try before you up grade is delete internet explorer and then reenstall the newest version.You can do this buy going to PROGRAMS. Then click on SETTINGS. Now go to CONTROL PANEL. Click on ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS. Now click on WINDOWS SETUP. It to the right of install/Uninstall. Ok I'm doing this all from memory because I'm at work but there should now be a option to remove internet explorer. Go a head and delete it. Make sure you have your windows operating system CD. Delete it. Now reenstall what's on your CD. Once internet explorer is reenstalled go upgrade it. This will fix your problems with internet explorer.You should run disk defrag. Everyone should know how to do this. I'd personally recommend everyone purchase the program Nortons System Works. I love this program. It will run in the back ground keeping a eye on your computer as it working. It'll find problems and allow you to fix them as they come up. This will really help make your operating system as stable as it can be. I have had nothing but good experiences with this program.

[MrMke]

Yeah.......I have to agree with Admin II.............I also have Norton System Works 2002 running on XP Pro and it works flawlessly. I use it to defrag as well as to monitor memory usage. I love it.

[ColonelPanic]

quote:Definitely.You aren't kidding... It does nothing but cause problems. Working in the IT field, I see an alarming number of spyware apps out there these days. They either get installed by means of a drive-by download that M$IE allows or perhaps it was added when a "free" application was installed. 99% of the time, the customers I support have no idea their machine was infected with this stuff. And they usually can't answer how it got there. I'm either thinking of spyware or perhaps a virus in this case.. AdAware has worked well for me here recently. Usually getting rid of this stuff manually isn't pretty, most of the time these guys don't include an uninstall routine. Normally I'll take a peek in the registry to look for odd apps that Windows runs at startup. I'll look at HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/ Run and in /Run Services, many viruses and spyware apps put themselves in those two keys. If I see something that doesn't look right, I'll do a google for the name of the executable in question. If it's evil, you will know about it after a quick search. If you don't want to enter the registry, you can always run msconfig ('98 and ME) and check the Startup tab, disable the items that way.Perhaps restoring the registry from a good backup (before the problem started happening) would help. However, if you have files corrupted by a virus or what have you, that won't help you much. There's always Windows Update and a newer version of IE to try as well.If all else fails, nuke the box and reinstall the OS of your choice. If you don't want to reinstall, you can ditch IE and try an alternative browser - my favorites being Opera and Mozilla. Or, you can do what I did, completely get rid of Windows and install Linux. LOL! Yes, I'm a pretty big geek. That's my two cents worth. Good luck, I know it's frustrating to troubleshoot intermittent problems like this.... Hopefully this helps, but it probably didn't.

[joatmon]

PC's keep pushing the performance specs, and Microsoft keeps generating new versions of window that require the state of the art power to run well. Only problem with upgrading to newer (but not ME) versions of windows is that if the PC came with 98, it may not have enough power to run XP well.My other two cents worth:There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those that understand binary and those that don't

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