Lots of "application hangs" and "not responding"

[flyted]

XP,dsl, have all updates, ran antivirus, spyware, ad-aware, also in safe mode. Did shellEXView and it worked for a short time. Ran WD HD diagnostics, no problems. Some of my usual sited work at perfect speed, others very slow. I am the point where I tried to format the HD but it keeps telling me something is in use, nor will it let me run checkdisk "fix file errors automatically". I'd be happy if I could simply repair XP via disk, if not I'll format if thats the solution? If I have to format, would it be better to try to do it through XP or the HD software? Thanks.

 

[hasu]

Try some memory tester to see if your RAM is good. Microsoft also has one

 

[flyted]

For some reason it won't run the test. Is there another memory test available? It does act like a memory problem with the exception of that I can go to another site right away and its real fast. How about a general diagnostic program I can run, I did a search for one and didn't find any free ones. If we can narrow the field down a little it will make things easier I hope. Thanks for the help.

 

[hasu]

try this....
memtest86

 

[flyted]

Problem solved: Never did get either memory test to run, tried to "repair" XP from the original disc and that didn't work either. Finally had to do a complete reinstall which wiped all aspects of windows from my HD and I was unable to transfer or save any emails or favorites or files of any type, it was just to far gone. Anyway the new install seems to be working near 100 normal. Looks like afer a few years, too many portions of windows were lost or mixed with other files and this was the only option I could find. Thanks for the help.