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Windows 7 Explorer (and other software) hang, seemingly at random
For the past few months my desktop has been performing poorly, in that Explorer frequently hangs and I have to either restart Explorer or reboot the entire computer. Other software also hangs from time to time, such as 3ds Max, Opera, Outlook, etc, requiring me to use Task Manager to close them. Sometimes CTRL+Alt+Delete doesn't bring up the menu and I have to hard reboot by holding the power button.
I read online that Explorer hangs could be caused by shell extensions, but with other software hanging as well would this still be the likely cause? I do not have that many installed other than things such as TortoiseGit/SVN, Notepad++, and a few others. As of late I've been rebooting my PC several times each day.
I also ran a scan for malware using both Malwarebytes Free and MSE, and both turned up clean.
System Specs (Stock Dell XPS 8700):
3.4 GHz i7-4770
12 GB RAM
GeForce GTX 645 1
1 TB HDD
Win 7 Professional x64
Does anyone know a good way to troubleshoot what might be the cause of the system not responding?