Near-Instant Freeze?

[pheonixashes]

Grr...

Ok, so I can turn on my computer normally (my gaming computer), and it runs smoothly for about 3-5 minutes.

Then, it gets slow for about 30 seconds.
Then, it freezes.

Anyone know what might be the problem?

 

[Hero]

Viruses?
Spyware?
Adware?

 

[pheonixashes]

Hmm... that's what I thought, but it also could be a memory problem.

 

[Dtere]

or overheating

 

[pheonixashes]

Ok, I've identified the problem to one of two things:

There's this process that runs on startup, its called
"svchost". I'm not sure what that is, can somebody help?

Other than that, it's most certainly caused by a virus.

 

[SFilip]

svchost is a part of the Windows OS...

Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs).

However because of it being so common as a process it is possible that there is a virus with the same filename. Either way it's not supposed to be ran on startup so try removing it through msconfig.

 

[Duwenbasden]

There should always be at least 1 svchost.exe running I think... otherwise XP will force you to restart (no way to stop it).

 

[pheonixashes]

Yes, but last time I counted, there were over 14 different SVCHosts.

 

[Duwenbasden]

I have 7 right now.

 

[pheonixashes]

Oh, ok then.

So that isn't whats causing the freezing?

BTW, it somehow worked this time. I didn't do anything to it, except set Warcraft III: Frozen Throne's priority to the front.

I dunno how that might work out though.

 

[SFilip]

> at least 1 svchost.exe running
No, the point is that every svchost process is different, they just share the same name. If you have 20 running and terminate one that is vital...well you will have 19 left, but Windows will still force a restart.

> that isn't whats causing the freezing
A standard svchost isn't, but as I said - the one you have on startup might be a virus or something, named svchost so that you wouldn't know what it is. Remove it and see what happens.

 

[Amfidamant]

Try looking here

 

[pheonixashes]

> at least 1 svchost.exe running
No, the point is that every svchost process is different, they just share the same name. If you have 20 running and terminate one that is vital...well you will have 19 left, but Windows will still force a restart.

> that isn't whats causing the freezing
A standard svchost isn't, but as I said - the one you have on startup might be a virus or something, named svchost so that you wouldn't know what it is. Remove it and see what happens.

Well, you see... it seems that I have a lot running on startup. Around 20, and they're all there when I click "Show processes from all users."

I deleted the ones that said System, which didn't work...
Then I deleted the ones that said Local, which forced the restart, along with the System...
Then I deleted the ones that said Network, which apparently worked.

Except, I can't find it in the statup programs list that Vista has.

Oh well. It works now, and that's all that matters. +rep to all that helped.

 

[Mythic Fr0st]

I had 5 svc hosts comming up a while ago...

My pc froze during a window update (after shutting down, when it says "Windows is updating 1/ 7 installs to go DO NOT shut down),

so I shut it down, cus it wasn't doing anything, it aventurely fixed itself

So perhaps its an update problem?

oh, and perhaps its RAM? had any upgrades? if your ram sticks aren't compatible, your computer will freeze randomly...