Jim writes: << For the last month my computer hesitates - or freezes - for from one to ten seconds>> Usually this is an indication that your computer is running short on resources. Some possible causes: 1.Too much running in background. This is by far and away the most common reason for slowdowns. 2.Some a-v programs are far too invasive for normal home use in their default form. I only have mine running when on internet (which might not be advisable if others have access to your computer). 3. So-called "crash-proof" software can have disastrous affect on performance, although may appear impressive initially. Shouldn't be necessary on a properly-maintained computer, and may mask symptoms until they get so bad that all hell is suddenly let loose. 4. Poorly maintained system. How long since you last did a registry restoration, for example? Or cleaned out caches and redundant hidden files such as orphaned .dll's. There is plenty of good freeware for these things. Even a registry cleaner is better than nothing, though a regular system of full registry restoration is far better ( at least every 3 months). It's vital to have a good registry restoration system in place if you, as I do, continually download, try, and reject lots of new software. Installation monitoring software such as Cleansweep is also pretty useful, though not vital if you have a good manual registry backup habits. (ie backup registry before you install major software). 5. Improper procedure restarting after a serious crash (ie reboot without proper closure of major programs). This can leave the computer in rather a mess, which will show up in erratic performance, freezes, and possibly total failure. (see my tutorial). In short, always restart into Safe Mode, wait for HD activity to cease completely, reboot normally, close down and reboot again as normal. Thus giving the OS the best opportunity to clear itself of the chaos left by the crash or bad shutdown. Try booting with Shift held down until hard drive activity stops. This will prevent most startup programs from opening. See what effect this has on your problem. If you see a marked improvement, then it's likely the problem is simply caused by too much running. Open msconfig and turn off everything non-essential. It may be trial and error to find the right balance. If this doesn't help much, try a registry restore, going back maybe 6 months. Even better, to your original registry if possible. Though this won't help you much, as you will probably have to reinstall most of your software, at least it does help to see if it fixes the immediate problem. If it does, you can be fairly sure you have some registry corruptions or maybe just too much clutter which slows performance. You shouldn't have to reformat unless things have really got out of hand, or you have no registry backups---in which case you may be up the creek without a paddle. Of course, a complete reformat is the most complete solution, if that doesn't pose too many problems for you. But if you can learn to maintain your computer properly and follow sensible operating procedures, you should never need to reformat. (I've not reformatted in 6 years, though admittedly the computer is running a bit slower now than optimum, but not enough to worry me. And it's perfectly stable). For more detailed info on most of these points, and on the more mundane possibilities such as regular defragging, regular cleanups, etc, see my on-line tutorials. Also, check that you have at least 200 Mb of free hard drive space---a full HD will slow performance something horrible, even though you have a ton of RAM. Windows needs lots of space to expand and contract as it works. Don't forget to empty out all your deleted items in OE---these seem to get hidden and many people don't realise these have to be regularly cleaned out. A friend recently wondered why his computer suddenly started behaving much as yours is. We found about 3 years accumulation of old stuff hidden in OE which he'd never cleaned out. Deleting it all took ages, as memory could only cope with deleting a limited number of items at each hit. If you have Word's or Office's "Find" permanently on, I believe this can eat up performance, as can any auto-indexing. There are endless possibilities. It's really a matter of logic and trial and error, once you've done all the maintenance bits. Could even be failing or badly-seated RAM chip, though unlikely. Also check all fans for intermittent failure. Overheating could cause erratic symptoms. Don Penlington Free computer tutorials at: http://www.geocities.com/donaldpen/ Also Fractal Galleries, free icons, poetry, and beautiful Queensland beaches. The NOSPIN Group Promotions is now offering Mandrake Linux or Red Hat Linux CD sets along with the OpenOffice CD... at a great price!!! http://freepctech.com/goodies/promotions.shtml