Windows 7 x64 Freezing for up to a minute

Symptoms:
Every few minutes, some windows stop responding and the cursor changes to a spinning donut and disappears when moved over certain windows. Usually, the System Idle Process still has over 50% CPU. Sometimes, Alt-Tab stops working. Sometimes the Task Manager stops updating. Sometimes the start Menu will activate but typing doesn't show up in the search box while on others, the Start Menu won't activate at all. Sometimes even Ctrl-Alt-Delete doesn't have any effect. This will go on for 30 seconds to several minutes. Then, the UI "catches up" with some of things I've tried doing and everything is fine for 10 minutes.

Recent changes:
I replaced the original HDD with an SSD back in June. I recently started using CrashPlan+ for local and online backups (30 day trial). Prior to that I was using Carbonite (which is still installed but "frozen".)

Solutions attempted:
I'm running MSE. I have run both Quick and Full scans using Malwarebytes. I've done several (at least 3) runs of SFC /SCANNOW. The first one required a restart. the subsequent ones didn't. (I do see a bunch of renames every time it is run.) I tried using the Event Viewer but I get a dialog saying Microsoft Management Console has stopped working.

Any suggestions on what to try next?

Thanks

Gerard

Hello Gerard, How old the laptop is, is it under warranty still?

If it is, take it to the vendor for a check up.

If it is not (then only, coz it will make your warranty void), you may need to open the laptop, make some cleaning, reseat the RAM modules, sata ports etc.