Need Computer help

So within the last couple days I have been experiencing problems with my laptop.

After inactive for a certain period of time(not exactly sure how long but more than 10 -15mins) it just freezes up on me. It doesnt always happen also. Sometimes its fine, but it's almost one time a day kind of deal.

I always leave my computer on overnight too, and the screensaver comes up after 5 minutes and it has never been a problem for me.

Do I have some kind of virus, because as of now Spy Sweeper isn't picking up anything beside the regular cookies.

If I had to guess what's wrong with your laptop I'd probably guess a) it's overheating because it has ventilation issues or b) you have faulty memory.

Turn it of more often to see if that alleviates the problem and make sure that you don't have dust covering your laptop's vents. You can also test for faulty by running memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/#download0) (memory test application). You probably want to create a bootable memtest86 CD from the ISO. (http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.2.iso.zip)

One thing about laptops is they like to overheat so I would not keep it on all night. Also I would get a book or something to over hang your laptop so the fan or battery is not being covered by the table. You can also buy a stand that your laptop can sit on that has fans on it. Also I would make sure to run Windows Updated

I think it might be the memory, because I need more RAM and its been running slower recently

One thing about laptops is they like to overheat so I would not keep it on all night. Also I would get a book or something to over hang your laptop so the fan or battery is not being covered by the table. You can also buy a stand that your laptop can sit on that has fans on it. Also I would make sure to run Windows Updated

well I have had my laptop for two years and this is the first time this has happened.


Also after 5 mins the screensaver comes up and I think it conserves energy...fan quiets down, all that.

Turn it of more often to see if that alleviates the problem and make sure that you don't have dust covering your laptop's vents. You can also test for faulty by running memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/#download0) (memory test application). You probably want to create a bootable memtest86 CD from the ISO. (http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.2.iso.zip)

I honestly have no idea what you are saying.

So what do I do? Why would I want to create a CD.

I apologize, while I know a fair amount about computers, some other things I really don't understand.

I honestly have no idea what you are saying.

So what do I do? Why would I want to create a CD.

What you want to do is create a bootable CD (you put it in, you restart the computer and the program(s) on the CD get run instead of your operating system). Assuming you have a cd burner you should download the zipped ISO file (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image) for memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.2.iso.zip), extract the ISO file from the zip file and burn the ISO file using CD burning software like ISO Recorder Power Toy (http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm).

Note: When restarting your laptop you may have to either enable the CD -ROM as your first boot device from the BIOS or press a button like F12 to select CD-ROM as the boot device.

I think it might be the memory, because I need more RAM and its been running slower recently

The fact that you're running slower has nothing to do with memory. Maybe hard drive, but not memory. What operating system are you running? Win XP? How much memory do you have?

The fact that you're running slower has nothing to do with memory. Maybe hard drive, but not memory. What operating system are you running? Win XP? How much memory do you have?

XP with only 256..thats my problem.


But it never ran slow before.