My computer has been having problems again the last few months. I'm 99% sure it's Firefox, but the last time I tried to uninstall and reinstall it, it didn't completely start on a clean slate as my add-ons were still there and such, so that didn't help. I may just move to Chrome or something and suck it up. What happens: Especially if I leave Facebook on the news feed (Home), Firefox will start freezing up until I refresh Facebook; when I do that it will continue freezing on and off until Facebook reloads. Well, on some occasions, it also freezes my entire computer, and the only way to resolve that is to close Firefox whenever my computer unfreezes and wait for the process to close while my computer keeps freezing until it's done. At this point, I may as well just get a new computer! We replaced the motherboard back in summer 2010 when it kept freezing then just by being on for five minutes--no applications open or anything. We replaced the power supply multiple times--it's likely that the bad motherboard kept frying them. And then, if anyone remembers, we replaced the CPU fan in January of this year. I don't know what else it could be. On top of that, my mom's computer has been having problems for the past year, mostly just slowness (not freezing AFAIK), so much that she had to disable Aero, and she's also looking at a new computer. Also note that she also had to replace her motherboard. Ugh! We've both had our computers since 2009, I believe. They're not that old and shouldn't be having problems! /rant
Have you checked to make sure you haven't gotten any virus or something on your computer? Go through your list of applications on your computer, you might find you installed something without knowing and gotta get if off. Also, you do know that even if you take the browser itself off, you'll still have the extension made by the browser on your computer right? I can't remember where it is on the computer, but all of the stuff used on your browser, including bookmarks, add-ons, and stuff like that is saved on it so whenever you get the browser back all of your personal stuff is still on it. I don't use anything relating to social networking though, but are you also sure it's not an issue with something on your computer conflicting with facebook? edit: okay, double-checked, and the file I was talking about was only for bookmarks. I thought I read something about a file keeping your add-ons too, but I could be wrong. This is why I should not go off my memory when it comes to software
Pretty sure it's not a virus as the weekly scans pick nothing up. And it doesn't matter, anyway. We're both getting new computers. My mom found a refurbished one for me that has four gigabytes of RAM and 750 gigabytes of hard drive space compared to my two gigabytes and 250 gigabytes (232 usable). She's willing to help pay for mine for Christmas, but I have to pay the difference. I haven't used any of the $150 I got for my birthday, so that won't be a problem. I would just have to install a lot of things again, but that's a price to pay, I guess. This is when I'm thankful that I have a laptop.
If the problem isn't software related (which it probably is), then I don't see how buying second hand outdated hardware is going to help. Now I understand that some people don't have a lot of money and that is perfectly fine, but truth be told I don't see why you guys don't just buy a bottom of the barrel chromebook or something as those don't cost that much and I can't imagine you are (or her) or doing anything overly intensive with two gigs of RAM and 250gb of hard drive space. Advanced technology is obviously not a priority/needed (and it doesn't have to be) so just save up and pick up something that won't break in five minutes (and has some form of warranty) and don't blindly install bloatware/protect your investment. Computers can last without much problems for a very very long time (even pre built ones, my dad's old HP lasted for over 10) if you take the proper steps to take care of them (which he did). Very rarely do things like these happen "for no reason", and if it isn't a hardware failure, it is generally the user's fault.
The only one other thing I can think of is hard drive failure. Apparently that's possible according to my computer-savvy friend. Computer seems to be okay now, but I've turned it off and am going to give it a break, likely for the rest of he night. My backups are updated and I can access things like my music from the external hard drive.
Possible, yes. But I doubt it. Hard drives by and large don't break slowly. Fine one day, failure to boot the next. Have you tried looking at the performance part of the task manager and seeing if anything is capping out?
If I can get it to behave when I get back, I can have a look. It doesn't really matter, though. Both my mom and I are getting new computers--it's about time, anyway, since we've had these since 2009. Although, while slow, the Dell we have, which is older, as a substitute for when one of our computers breaks down still performs well. Now I have my laptop, though, which I will be using for now, so I don't need it.
Fair enough. So long as you have a good backup nothing beats the nuclear option; fresh install on fresh components. Especially if the current machine is getting long in the tooth. Still, worth a look to see if some of your newer parts like the power-supply are better than what is in the new box.
Only thing I can't backup are applications, like RollerCoaster Tycoon, but I can just reinstall those.
