[banban]

Hi everyone,
I have been sent here from the malware forum, my machine has been checked and is clear of malware.
I run Vista Buisiness on a HP Compaq6710b laptop.
A month ago firefox started having problems - after 5 minutes of browsing it would't load any pages and said "Stopped" down left. And then IE wouldn't load pages either. I noticed that firefox was hanging and I couldn't kill it from the task manager. I changed to google chrome. Chrome stops connecting after aprox. 5-6 hours of browsing, it also hangs in the task manager and can't be killed. The computer then has serious problems shutting down, it might even take 10 min.
I have set my firewall to allow access to all the abovementioned browsers.
I tried a clean install of firefox, removing my profile information, and I also tried downgrading to firefox2, this didn't help either.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!

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Please, post some computer info:
- processor type, amount of RAM (hold Windows logo key, hit Pause/Break key)
- hard drive size/free space (open "My Computer", right click on hard drive letter, click "Properties")
- security programs in use (antivirus, firewall)

Does the same thing happens in Safe Mode with Networking?

[Broni]

Please, post some computer info:
- processor type, amount of RAM (hold Windows logo key, hit Pause/Break key)
- hard drive size/free space (open "My Computer", right click on hard drive letter, click "Properties")
- security programs in use (antivirus, firewall)

Does the same thing happens in Safe Mode with Networking?

[banban]

Hello Broni and thanks for your reply,
here is the info
Processor Intel core duo cpu T7300 2GHerz, RAM 2 Gb,
Hard drive 140 Gb, 71 Gb free.
I use avast! antivirus and Zone alarm firewall - I know it is supposed to be a bad combination but it had worked fine for me for a long time.
I didn't try to browse in safe mode, but I have uninstalled all add-ons and I still get the "Stopped"-thing.

[Broni]

Does the same thing happens in Safe Mode with Networking?

[banban]

I thought the difference in safe mode is that the add-ons are deactivated.
I will try browsing in safe mode and post back.

[Broni]

I thought the difference in safe mode is that the add-ons are deactivated.

No. There is a difference between browser's safe mode, where all add-ons are disabled, and Windows safe mode, which doesn't influence browser's add-ons, but it loads Windows generic drivers, and basic services.

Edited by Broni, 16 February 2009 - 04:23 PM.

[banban]

No, it seems like it doesn't happen in safe mode.

[Abydos]

Hi

Try disabling Zone-Alarm momentarily, enable windows own.

Still happen?

There have been some reports on freezing PC's with one of the new
updates for Zone-Alarm, thought it might be your problem.

Regards

[banban]

It still happens if I shutdown Zone alarm, but I think there are still some zonealarm-routines running even if it is shut down... I also tried to reset zone alarms database, no change there either!

[Broni]

Enable Windows firewall, uninstall ZA, and see what happens.

[banban]

I uninstalled Zone alarm and I still have the same problem... but I think just uninstalling it is not enough... I also have to get rid of some registry entries and I am not quite sure how to do this. I will post again when I manage to totaly get rid of Zonealarm.
One quick question: When I entered windows safe mode, only the basic drivers were loaded. And avast and ZA didn't load at all... So when I was browsing, I didn't have any protection. Is this correct?

[Broni]

That's correct. You have to be quick while working in Safe mode. It's only for testing purposes.
For now, we know, that all works fine in Safe Mode with Networking.
One more test.

Go Start>Run (Start Search in Vista), type in:
msconfig
Click OK (hit Enter in Vista).

Click on Startup tab.
Click Disable all

Click Services tab.
Put checkmark in Hide all Microsoft services
Click Disable all.

Click OK.
Restart computer in Normal Mode.

NOTE. If you use different firewall, than Windows firewall, turn Windows firewall on, just for this test, since your regular firewall won't be running.
If you use Windows firewall, you're fine.

How is it now?

P. S. If you play with registry, make sure, you create Restore Point, first.

[banban]

Broni, thank you very much for your help.
After testing different firewalls, I think the problem is the veoh-web player! The problem seems to occur every time I let the player connect to the internet.
I've uninstalled it now and I'll let you know how it is going.