I am using os-windows xp pro and my pc randomley freezes. This will happen when I click on a system tray icon, nothing happens and then freezing begins. I try to use task manager to end the offending programs but it too will then freeze and the screen will go strange. Sometimes things will return to normal if I leave the pc for 10 mins or so. Also IE sometimes becomes non responsive, web pages won't load and my internet connection stops, even though I have high speed cable broadband which is reliable, it's definitely the pc. Programs just keep freezing and NOTHING responds so I am forced to unplug the dam thing and switch it back on; then it just works like nothing had ever happened, until the next time. I have run disk defrag, disk check, I have 50% free space on my hard drive. I have run MS memory checker, all no problems detected. I run Adware , so no spyware. I have anti virus software that I run everyday, so no virus infection. I have a software firewall installed. I even run Registry Mechanic, it finds no problems apart from deleted windows media player registry values and stuff. Windows xp tells me all my devices are working properly and there are no conflicts. I have run an online test @ PcPitstop, again no problems detected. I have no doggy software on my pc and there are no strange or unneccesary processes running. I have re-installed windows xp pro, this did not resolve the problem. Everything should be hunky dorey, but it's not. The dam thing keeps freezing for no apparant reason! Can anyone please give me any advice to help me solve this problem?

This sounds very similar to what had been happening to my PC (I had XP Home, though). And I don't have a clear idea of why exactly it happened, either.

My PC would also just randomly start lagging, freezing, and the programs that connect to the Internet would just not respond. It seems that for me it also started often when I clicked on some system tray icon - or maybe I just noticed it there first, I don't know -, so the system tray and taskbar often froze completely too. And of course, the only way I could get out of this situation was resetting the PC.

I don't have any dodgy programs or viruses etc on my PC either, but I suspected this freezing happened because my Windows installation was over three years old, and as I've heard, they don't work that well after some time. About five days ago I formatted and reinstalled XP (Pro version this time), and now I'm waiting to see if the freezing will occur again. So far it hasn't, but I guess it's too early to tell. I'm sorry that I can't be of much help other than saying you're not the only one with a freezing problem...

I'm  curious, how long as XP Pro been installed on your system? Due to Microsoft's lack of ability to keep their own systems clean, the registry does tend to fill up quickly with redundant stuff.

I can't necessarily say what the issue is, it could indeed be a virus or something. Not all anti-virus software can pick up every virus there is. But I doubt that is the case here anyway. Is it possible you can back up everything? Sometimes the issue can be that since XP can't really clean itself and after a few years, it'll start to become non-responsive to the point you can't do anything anymore. I've had to reinstall XP roughly 3-5 times since I've owned my computer about 8 years ago. (old system, I can't get the money to build a PC >.>)

I wish I can help more, but I don't know.. I suppose before you try formatting, is it possible you could run CCleaner? That is, if you haven't tried to do so already.