System freezing (7 Pro 64-Bit)

I would love to even try this but I can't get my laptop to boot and work without freezing and all I have open is Windows control panel. I'm trying a tip from another thread to disable are applications set to go at start up. If I can get Window to be stable enough to try your advice I will.

OK. It held together long enough for me to check for a minidump file. Nothing comes up on a search. When I tried to find it through computer, it froze again. I have now forced shut down again. I doubt if it is good news but I still haven't had a BSOD. Maybe that would help!! I have to stop trying to find a solution now but will check this site again tomorrow with my husband's computer tomorrow.
I can't begin to tell you how frustrating and disappointing this is for a small business user who went to the effort to run and do all of the actions from the Upgrade Advisor before proceeding. It doesn't make sense. I also upgraded my husband's computer which is the hub for our home network (my laptop connects to the internet via a wireless connection to my husband's computer). It seems to be working without problems although there have been quite a few important updates in the last few days.

Ok I had one freeze again. I swear it freezes once when I get home, then I reboot, and it's fine for the rest of the night. I don't get it.

Anyway, I'm using Core Temp and it's showing the highest temps I get under load is 57 degrees C. Not too bad considering with this PC there's not much I can do outside of the stock heatpipe.

I may try taking the PC down to 4 GB RAM instead of 6 and see what happens. If memory serves, when I was first running the PC with only 4 GB, it was more stable. Maybe it isn't playing nice since the two 2 GB sticks are slightly different than the two 1 GB sticks.

-HM

Update: after another freeze I decided to start fiddling with the hardware. First I tried setting the clock speeds back a bit, and the system wouldn't POST...until I removed two of the memory sticks.

So in the interests of changing only one thing at a time, I'm back to the speeds I had before, but went with my idea above (only 4 GB RAM). This is how I had the PC when I first installed Windows 7 on it, and to be honest, had no freezing issues. It started once I put the original 2 GB back in to get me to 6. The memory sticks are similar, but since 2 sticks are meant for 2.5 volts, and the other are 2.0...they are clearly different enough

Won't know for certain until I run it for a few days.

-HM

Hmm are the sticks all the same brand model and such. Have you tried upping the voltages for all sticks to 2.5.

They're supposed to be the same but since two are 2 years newer they have different voltage requirements. It seems that shoving them all up to 2.5v, when the two newer sticks are rated for 2.0v, would be a bad idea.

-HM

FYI, I did a restore to the point before the recent wave of critical and optional updates. Everything works perfectly. My plan is to make sure that I have the updated version of my drivers and software and then proceed one by one to install the updates. That way I can check exactly what may be causing the issue (if I still have one after proceeding in this way). Wish me luck!!

At least for the moment, everything is working well. For anyone else who has been experiencing problems, here's what I did.
1) went to a restore point on Oct 29 (before wave of critical updates)
2) Reinstalled McAfee security suite 9 and made sure that there were no updates
3) installed the optional updates because they were for my hardware (modem, display, etc) except the update for Windows Live, then did a re-start
4) installed two remaining critical updates one at a time with a re-start after each
5) checked for any new updates (there were none)

That's it! I'll post something here if the freeze problems re-occur.