Serendipity kicks in--I was searching the boards for advice about my HP Pavilion locking up when I'm online--and found this post. I've got a PentIII, am running Win98, have 127mb memory, and have got 60% free disk space, use Wincleaner regularly, and am very good about defragging. I've got AdAware installed and there doesn't appear to be any spyware lurking.
I always connected this lock-up problem to using Juno as my ISP, but recently switched to Verizon DSL with no change. I have been unable to make any connection between what I'm browsing at the time and when it locks up. I recently downloaded Serif's Photo Plus 5.5, did a lot of photo manipulation, and the computer locked up immediately upon opening IE (most recent version). Prior to that, the freezing had been random--could go a month without an occurance and then it would freeze up repeatedly. I've uninstalled the photo software, and am back to periodic lock-ups. I'm now suspicious that it's photo, or at least graphics related.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. (And I'm by no means an expert at this computer thing, so please explain in simple terms!)
Thanks
-Valerie