My PC freezes over three times a day!

[Lillefot]

Hello computer wiz-kids of the GoF! Care to illuminate me?

I think my PC (which runs Vista) started to freeze about a year ago. Back then it was okay, and it only did it maybe once and then stayed calm for about 4-5 months?
But lately these freezings have increased, and are now up in about 3-4 per day!
The programs I run are mainly FF (often with YT and several tabs, Messenger...)
I've checked the task manager, and FF is often using the most resources it seems
Whith freeze, I mean that the whole things just stops. I can't move the mouse, use the keyboard or bring up the taks manager, the music I'm playing hangs up!
The only way to get around it is to hold the power button and restart the * thing.
It gets on my nerves so badly that... Uurgh!
The PC was upgraded to Vista SP2 not long after it was released.

I've felt the heat, and it's warm. But not "hot". Doesn't feel like it's gonna lit on fire or anything. The fans work and I have an external fan cooler with three fans.

I have absolutely, NO, bloody idea what to do! I don't know if to blame the machine or Vista...
I'd love to sell this junk off before I canm get money for it. But my economy is to be taken care of and I'm torn between OSX or W7 as my next computer OS.

I want to know the cause, and would be happy if you can advice me.

If you need some basic specs...

4GB DDR2 RAM
Intel Core 2 Duo processor (1,83 GHz each)
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS up to 1024 MB

Thanks in advance.

[Pikkutassu]

Some dust in CPU? Open the whole thing and blow the dust off. That's what makes my PC freezing like that unless I clean it every 3-4 months.

[Lillefot]

Some dust in CPU? Open the whole thing and blow the dust off. That's what makes my PC freezing like that unless I clean it every 3-4 months.

Maybe. I've runned a backup on the stuff I value, so I'm open for proposals.
Even opening it. But I'm not doing anything hasty.... Yet.

[landbeforetimelover]

If this computer were in my shop, I'd wipe it first then check the ram and CPU.  It could just be a Vista thing.  Especially if it's an OEM version.  You can always switch out the ram and see if that helps.  But my process of doing things would be to first wipe it out and if that didn't solve it, I'd check the memory.  If you want to check the memory, you can always try running memtest.  But I don't trust programs to tell me what's wrong with a computer.  I find out what's wrong with computers through practical cause/effect and logical sequences and I test them by switching parts out.

[Lillefot]

So I shall take it apart and wipe it free of any dust? Sounds easy enough.
Thanks, I'll see if it helps.

[Lillefot]

Thought I should post the outcome.
So I opened up the laptop, and wiped it free of dust. There was some big dust balls stuck between the fan and the exhaust went... Then I checked the processors, which I saw nothing wrong with.
After this, I ran a complete system reboot and installed one program at the time.
I also changed my web-browser from MF to Safari 4 (because MF had a bad habit with sending my CPU sky-high... I have no idea why)
The PC hasn't froze a single time since then, and the area above the fan is alot cooler than before.

[Mumbling]

Great

[Paradise Bird]

Thought I should post the outcome.
So I opened up the laptop, and wiped it free of dust. There was some big dust balls stuck between the fan and the exhaust went... Then I checked the processors, which I saw nothing wrong with.
After this, I ran a complete system reboot and installed one program at the time.
I also changed my web-browser from MF to Safari 4 (because MF had a bad habit with sending my CPU sky-high... I have no idea why)
The PC hasn't froze a single time since then, and the area above the fan is alot cooler than before.

Well done you have rid yourself of a problem