SOLVED My laptop is freezing

[HelpNeeded]

Since yesterday, my laptop has started to freeze after a length of period. The first time, VLC was playing and the second time I was using Firefox. I left it on overnight to test, it was only on the desktop and it had indeed froze again.

I'm a real amateur when it comes to stuff like this, so I haven't the faintest idea where I should start. Could it be my BIOS? Or maybe a virus?

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[TrainableMan]

BIOS ... not likely. If you haven't recently changed any settings in your BIOS then I would say almost definitively, no.

Virus, sure, very possible; run a safe mode scan:
Download TDSSKiller and RKill from our Freeware DB. If you do not have an anti-virus then download, install, and allow to update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM). Then reboot your system into safe mode without networking (Reboot and, when it says "Starting Windows," Press F8; If you get a message asking continue in safe mode or perform a system restore, choose continue in safe mode). Now run TDSSKiller and after that run RKill and after that run a full virus scan. The first two will take maybe 5 minutes each but a full virus scan can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours depending on your hard drive size and number of files.

Booting in safe mode makes sure only minimal services/programs are started. TDSSKiller is designed specifically to look for rootkits. RKill is designed to stop the stealthing programs that hide/protect/regenerate some nasty viruses. Running these first will help ensure your A/V has the absolute best chance of cleaning up infected files.

 

[TrainableMan]

If it turns out you do not have a virus then it is a good idea to make sure your drivers are up-to-date. Visit the computer/motherboard manufacturers website and make sure you have the latest installed. Also visit the video card manufacturers site and get the latest video driver (even if the video is onboard the motherboard, often their is a more recent version available at AMD or NVidia's website).

And having numerous programs running in the background will slow your computer so consider disabling automatic start-up or even uninstalling programs that run as soon as you start the computer.

 

[HelpNeeded]

Hi, thanks a million for replying! Well I ran all those scans and found 12 threats, EEEP. I then checked to see if my drivers were up to date and they were, or well, so said the HP website and the program (SlimDrivers) I used to scan.

However, the problem still occured. About half an hour ago, I don't know if this is anything to go on. But it's not happened twice, when I've gone to click on a Twitter profile from a Google search. I can't even begin to imagine what might be causing that?

 

[TrainableMan]

By any chance do you use an extremely large hosts file to block ad sites etc? I have nearly 33,000 host file entries and it used to slow my system down about every 15 minutes when my computer would rebuild something (I don't totally understand) that I think is related to DNS server calls. I installed a little program called Hosts Manager which optimizes the entries & removed duplicates and now I only notice that freeze/lag if I update my hosts file & forget to optimize it.

 

[HelpNeeded]

Like, Ad Block Plus? Yeah, I do, if that's what you mean...

 

[TrainableMan]

No, ABP is a browser add-on. A hosts file is an actual file named "Hosts" and located in your "\Windows\System32\drivers\etc" Folder. If you aren't familiar with it then it likely is pretty small and wouldn't be your issue.

What you probably need to do is run a program like Process Explorer and keep it running in a window while you run a browser in another window. Adjust the windows so you can still see Process Explorer while you are browsing. Then when you notice freezing quickly look over at Process Explorer and see what is utilizing your CPU.

 

[HelpNeeded]

I'm not sure what the hell it was, but eventually it got to the stage of whenever Firefox opened, the computer would freeze. I guess it was an add on, but as kind as your help was, I decided it best to delete the program and use Chrome again.

It's been fine ever since. Don't know what the hell that was about. Glad it been solved though, I thought it was something worse!

 

[HelpNeeded]

Thank you for all your help regardless, you've been wonderful!

 

[TrainableMan]

Definitely sounds like a quirk in the browser or more likely an add-on you had. Firefox is actually my browser of choice and I have no problems but I'm glad you have a solution that works for you.