Windows 7 hangs about every 10-15 minutes

I have a Toshiba laptop and it had been working fine up until about a week ago. So I'm wondering about the updates that have been automatically installed since April 26th. Those numbers are kb2515325, kb890830, kb2522422, kb982018, kb2506928, kb2492386, kb915597 definitions 1.103.1139.0, 1.103.900.0, 1.103.682.0, and 1.103.468.0. Can these updates just be arbitrarily uninstalled without causing more problems? I haven't tried that yet.

The screen that is active will gray out and say Not Responding, it can be Internet Explorer, MS Outlook, MS Word, the Control Panel, or a computer game. It will usually sit for 45 to 60 seconds and then comes back to normal.

I've closed out of all applications except one and it still happens. I've disconnected from the internet and it still happens.

I've checked and the various drivers are up to date.

I've read all the old posts about similar problems and tried most of the suggestions with no resolution to the problem.

Please let me have your suggestions on how to resolve this. It is extremely frustrating. If the solutions are complex, please explain in detail as I am not a techie guru.

Thanks for your help, Carole Saylor (morlaine)

morlaine -

There are quite a few things that may be contributing to your problem.

We need some more details -

*Did you have the same problem prior to the updates?{ On re-reading above it appears not.}

*What antivirus or antispyware or safety product do you have on the PC?
List any you have ever had on this PC including those you uninstalled.

* Are your Anti virus, Antimalware programs updated regularly?

* What browsers are you running?

* Have you checked in Event Viewer ?
Event Viewer - Windows Logs - System & Application.
Check for any red error messages to do with this problem.

* Your System Specs would be handy to better enable us to offer help.
User CP > Your Control Panel >Edit System Specs> Save changes.

Here are the responses to your questions.
*Did you have the same problem prior to the updates?{ On re-reading above it appears not.} Asked and answered. :)

*What antivirus or antispyware or safety product do you have on the PC?
List any you have ever had on this PC including those you uninstalled.
When I got the computer it had McAfee which I used for a while. Then I uninstalled it using the Control Panel and installed the free version of AVG. I'd used AVG for a number of years in the past and was very happy with it. However, not long after installing it, some customers notified me that they were getting as many as 100 duplicate emails from me. The AVG addition was the only change I'd made to the PC. I worked with AVG for a few days with no resolution, so I uninstalled it using the Control Panel. Then with further research I found out that sometimes all the files are not uninstalled using the Control Panel and it was suggested that I use Revo Uninstaller, which I did and it seemed to work fine. Then, on the recommendation of a friend, I installed the free version of Avast. The duplicate email problem stopped and things seemed to be fine until about a week ago when the problem with hanging up started.

* Are your Anti virus, Antimalware programs updated regularly? Yes, they are automatically updated everyday.

* What browsers are you running? As a general rule, I use Internet Explorer, when doing Genealogy research my search engine (Copernic) automatically brings up Firefox and I use it.

* Have you checked in Event Viewer ?
Event Viewer - Windows Logs - System & Application.
Check for any red error messages to do with this problem. I had tried looking at the Event Viewer before but didn't know where to look or what I was looking at. Thank you for the instructions on where to look. I learned something new today. :) There was an error on Internet Explorer that indicated it was hanging up. So I went to the Microsoft webpage to find out how to repair IE. I had IE 8 installed but when I did the repair, it automatically without asking me, installed IE 9. Now interestingly enough, it has not hung up since installing IE 9. I'm not convinced that this is the solution to the problem because sometimes there would be a couple of hours between hang ups. Time will tell, I guess. I will update this thread if my system goes for the rest of the day without hanging up.

* Your System Specs would be handy to better enable us to offer help.
User CP > Your Control Panel >Edit System Specs> Save changes. I wasn't sure what you meant by this, so I'm sending you a jpg picture of the system configuration from the Control Panel/System screen. Let me know if you did not get the attachment, as I attached it but don't see it anywhere on this screen. If you need something else, please just let me know.
Regards, Carole Saylor (morlaine)

Hi,
Yes, you were right, the hang ups stopping was just a coincidence. They are back but do not seem as often as they were before, probably another coincidence.

I note you have installed SP1. Did your current problem occur before that was installed? The hang ups have only been happening for about the last week, certainly not more than 10 days. The SP1 was installed on March 26th, so it is doubtful that it is the cause of the problem. There have been five updates since April 26th that might be the culprit. I attached a jpg showing the most recent updates. I put a red box around the recent ones.
Re removal of any Anti Virus -
It is essential that you remove them using the appropriate uninstall tool from the company concerned. This generally guarantees a precise removal.

Control Panel doesn't always do a thorough job. Remnants may remain which in turn can create conflict with the new product installed. I went into Regedit and found that there were no instances of mcafee however there were a number of references to avg. I exported the registry file and deleted the avg references and restarted the pc. It was still hanging up, so I went to the avg website and downloaded their removal tool and ran it. Then I downloaded the removel tool from the McAfee website and ran it, just in case. Then I rebooted. No hang ups so far but it's only been a short time.

It is feasible that your current problem may indeed be aggravated by both McAfee & AVG bits remaining - & that AVG's problem was in fact {partly} attributed to McAfee remnants.

Disclaimer - I use AVG Pro on the three laptops here & have never had a problem thus far.{ Have used it on numerous Operating Systems / computers over the years.} I agree with you. I've used AVG for years but I always had a good internet connection and many of those years it was DSL. And I was always pleased with AVG which is why I got rid of McAfee and installed AVG. I think the duplicate email problem arises when the internet access speed is extremely slow. It seems like a duplicate email is queued each time the connection is not made with the email server. If you remember I have a Hotmail account that I access using MS Outlook via Outlook Connector. I think it is a combination of AVG and the extremely slow internet access. I am working in Costa Rica and the access is not much faster than dial-up.

I'm not sure I understood your question about Internet Explorer for 32 bit. I don't remember the Microsoft website asking about 32 or 64 bit. They just arbitrarily installed IE 9. I've attached a jpg to show the info on IE 9. It says 256 bit which I don't understand.

Also the last time it hung up I looked at the Event Viewer and in Windows Logs/System I found an error that said the source was Atapi and the error message said "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort3." I also attached a jpg showing the info in Control Panel/Device Manager for ATAPI. I'm pretty sure that I checked all the drivers in that area and they are all up to date. So any ideas? I'm running out of ideas.
Thanks for all your help, Carole

Carole...
Re the Event Viewer error.
At this stage I would suggest you keep it under observation to see how often it occurs.
A link below for you to peruse.
Event log shows event 11 atapi: The driver detected a controller - Microsoft Answers

Re your 5 last updates
For trouble shooting purposes you could uninstall one at a time to see if you can identify a possible culprit.Observe carefully your computers behaviour before the next KB uninstall.
Windows Update - Uninstall an Update

FYI -Future Microsoft Updates -
Update settings -
*I suggest you change them to notify you but let you choose to download.
*Do a few at a time only.

Always make sure you have a current system restore point prior to downloading anything.


Report back with the results.
Good luck.