Windows XP sp3.. freezing after updating Malwarebytes yesterday

I'm a firm believer now this was caused by ZoneAlarm/ ForceField .. .. those instances of it in TaskManager convinced me.. when I was trying to kill it off... they kept re-appearing over and over.. finally I was able to grab the last few to kill off.. then I heard my AVAST start scanning.. heard it when completed.. NOTHING showed up on any of those logs as a problem.
My reasoning, MB was the culprit.. was the MB icon in my tray items near the clock, I had never seen that before as long as I've used Malwarebytes / when it appeared , after I updated MB, rebooting, that's when my problem began.
Thanks to you all for your wonderful help on this ..thank you for hanging in there when nothing was working for me, all your hard work paid off.. I'm now rid of ZoneAlarm, never to use again, I've cleaned my pc using MB cleaner provided by Anak, with a new version of MB on my pc.. it's humming along beautifully. I'm a very happy camper again.

Makes me smile

A Guy

Being a happy camper does that mean you are preparing/providing Hot Dogs, Burgers, marshmellows and all the beer we can consume?

Anything worth while is worth the effort so we are all glad this came to a happy and successful conclusion.
Now it's off to bed and snuggle with my teddy bear and Donna.
Dennis

Dennis .. on man .. YES ~~~.. not on a rainy day...

gregrocker said:

Let us know if you need any help saving a backup image of XP in case it's ever needed. Do you have an External HD?
Greg Would this be like.. HP Simple Save - 320 GB- Instant hands free BACKUP ? if so I have one.

gregrocker said:

One last suggestion. XP MCE is a mess to Repair Install or reinstall (have just done one) so I'd save externally a backup image of your XP now when it's running good so you have an easy option to reimage the HD in 20 minutes if it ever becomes irreparable.

May I suggest Acronis's premium free imaging suite if you have a WD or Seagate HD, or free Macrium to Image your system.
Seagate Acronis cloning free util
WD Acronis free cloning app
Paragon 11 is also good. Make boot disk for your choice.

Greg I want to add 512 MB of Ram ( from Crucial ) as soon as I can read up on.. I have it already, was planning to install it Saturday when this mess began. Wouldn't it be better to get the new ram in first ? or if not, tell me what's best. I've been seeing a icon pop up , my virutal memory is low, warning recently.

Always good to max out your RAM. Here's the best video I've found to show how to install it if needed, plus you can check your work spec'ing it out to make sure it's the right RAM:



What's most important is to touch the case while touching the electronic parts so you're grounded, and don't work on carpet.

While in the case check your HD to see if you have WD or Seagate so you can use their superior free Acronis True Image backup imaging programs linked above - the Manual is on the Downloads pages, look for Backup Imaging in Contents.

If not use free Macrium from the tutorial link also above. Paragon 11 freeware is also good.

Save the backup image to the external. Make the boot disk so you have a rescue method if XP stops booting again and is irreparable. Just boot the disk and Restore from image in 20 minutes.

Greg I used Crucial to find the kind and size Ram I should use..
I took their suggestion to add the 512 MB ..
I only have 2 slots of RAM.. one being used when I bought this PC.. 512 MB
( 1 empty to use..)>>>> Today adding the 512 BM from Crucial.
I viewed the above video you sent me .. just before installing the 512 Ram , I followed all the safe tips as indicated in the video..
First .. I used Air duster before doing anything else today on the inside of my tower.
I had to try twice before getting it seated..
1st try, after rebooting .. the new ram didn't show.. so knew you said it would.
2nd time .. I could see clearly it was seated in perfectly.. I saw and heard the clicks as it was meant to do.
Rebooted again.. then I saw 1 GB of Ram, on my PC from clicking the PC Icon then properties.
Attachment 192215

Greg here are screen shots of the Click Free I was asking you about.
[ATTACH]Attachment 192527[/ATTACH]