Dear Ask-a-nerd: Computer "check up" programs?

[klr]

You could also disable Flash in Firefox by running it in "safe mode". You can force safe mode by editing the menu entry/desktop short-cut from:

firefox.exe

to

firefox.exe -safe-mode

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I know i'm sounding like a broken record here, but it's got to be a memory access problem (or remote chance of it being your graphics card). If memtest and crystaldisk aren't picking anything up, then it could be a problem on the motherboard itself like your bus or even just some other circuit. Did you get around to testing the running temps of the CPU and your graphics chip?

Lost track of that. Link again please?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You could also disable Flash in Firefox by running it in "safe mode". You can force safe mode by editing the menu entry/desktop short-cut from:

firefox.exe

to

firefox.exe -safe-mode

I explained why I won't do that earlier in this thread.

[pErvinalia]

http://www.rationalia.com/forum/viewtop ... 0#p1303585

[pErvinalia]

You could also disable Flash in Firefox by running it in "safe mode". You can force safe mode by editing the menu entry/desktop short-cut from:

firefox.exe

to

firefox.exe -safe-mode

That's interesting, I didn't realise you could run ff in safe mode. What bits does it disable in safe mode? I assume it must disable all add-ons and extensions etc.

[klr]

You could also disable Flash in Firefox by running it in "safe mode". You can force safe mode by editing the menu entry/desktop short-cut from:

firefox.exe

to

firefox.exe -safe-mode

That's interesting, I didn't realise you could run ff in safe mode. What bits does it disable in safe mode? I assume it must disable all add-ons and extensions etc.

Yup, it disables lots of things, to the extent that it might be just too inconvenient. Still, it might be worth running in safe mode for a while to see if it's stable.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That reminds me, you should test your cpu for overheating.

first hit on google looks like a good one - http://openhardwaremonitor.org/
Can get temps of your cpu and your video card. If either of those are too high, that could be causing your problems.

Got it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[klr]

I'm no hardware guru, but on first glance those figures look OK.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm no hardware guru, but on first glance those figures look OK.

No red flags for me either. 66 if actually colder than the room I'm in.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, the temps don't look too high. But it might be worth doing a gogle search for stress values.

Can you run that monitor continuously and perhaps even get it to dump to a text file? If so, you really need to see what the values are when the thing freezes. If you can't do that, it might be worth running some flash and just watching what happens to the temps.

eta on your post above - those temps would be C.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, the temps don't look too high. But it might be worth doing a gogle search for stress values.

Can you run that monitor continuously and perhaps even get it to dump to a text file? If so, you really need to see what the values are when the thing freezes. If you can't do that, it might be worth running some flash and just watching what happens to the temps.

The right hand column is max values noted, so that's covered. Not sure about the continuous setting, this is a beta.

eta on your post above - those temps would be C.

[pErvinalia]

Hang on, i'm just looking at those figures again and it has a value for the load on your memory of 77.7%. If that's indicating that you are using nearly 80% of your ram, then that is the source of your problem there. Might need to check exactly what that is referring to.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hang on, i'm just looking at those figures again and it has a value for the load on your memory of 77.7%. If that's indicating that you are using nearly 80% of your ram, then that is the source of your problem there. Might need to check exactly what that is referring to.

I have two Excel spread sheets open, plus Google Earth, and Malwarebytes is running a scan. So, not surprised at that load.

[pErvinalia]

But that's just way too much. Anything over 50% is getting into stressing territory. And with 8Gb of memory, you shouldn't get anywhere near that. Does the thing crash when you're only running the web browser, or does it happen when you've got other things running? Either way, it might be worth eventually checking what processes are using up all your memory. You might have some nasties, or just bloatware running hidden in the background that's chewing up your ram. I can get you a link for a good process monitor. The standard windows one doesn't pick up everything (or even most of the stuff running). There is a better one available in windows, but it's hidden out of the way, and I can't remember how to find it.