I have Windows XP Professional on my comp and I have constant problems.  

Usually when I try to close a program I get the wonderful "this program is not responding" box and it takes forever to close.  This happens when I try to close most programs.

The latest problem is with my taskbar.  The taskbar no longer functions.  The other night I could see the task bar itself but when I moved the pointer over it, the hourglass icon came up and I was unable to click on anything.  Even the start menu wouldnt' open.  Now the taskbar is mostly black so I really can't get to anything.  Last night when I could see the bar itself the clock wasn't working and when I minimized a window it didn't show up on the taskbar.

WTF is up with my comp?  Thanks in advance.

Sounds like something else is running in the background, tying up all your resorces. I would check for viruses.

could be a chair to keyboard interface problem

PEBKAC?

The first thing popped into my head was "do you have the minimum system specs to support xp?"  The problmes you are experiencing are similar to a lot of computers that are running xp but don't meet or exceed recommended specs.  You could also as mentioned above have too many programs running in the background.  Having too many apps trying to load on startup will really make your computer lag and even after loading all of them your computer will still be sluggish hence the "not responding programs".  Also as mentioned above you could have a virus or adware affecting your computer.  I've seen adware literally slow a computer to a halt by trying to load so much different shit and connect to the internet at the same time.  Get Norton, run a scan and get Ad-Aware.  If your pc is running xp without the correct system specs then you can't do one thing about your problem.

GL

I have adequate specs to run XP.  I ran it fine for over a year before I started having problems.  I think a virus is likely the cause and I know for a fact that some Ad programs have infested my computer.  Is there a way other than "Add/Remove Programs" to get rid of Adware?  I tried to get rid of all of them but a few required that I download an uninstaller that didn't do shit.

I have Norton Antivirus 2003, I'll do a scan and see what it comes up with.

If possible, update it before you run it

Those adware programs are a PITA!!!

You need to start from the beginning to troubleshoot this.

Look at the eventlog and see if the it's generating errors. That can be a plcea to start at times.


I'd install all critical updates, reinstall directX, update anti-virus, run full virus scan, download adaware and run that and also spybot and run that.

Also take a quick look at add/remove programs and make sure nothing is there that looks like obvious ad crap.

Also run Ad-aware.  

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Getting rid of adware can be a bitch.  Download ad-aware first. Getting rid of some adware can involve editing the registry which can sometimes be tricky.  Itshardly worth looking in add/remove programs for adware, as they hardly ever show up there and if they do, they won't uninstall.  One last thing, download JV16 power tools, that is a damn good program for cleaning up your computer.  Before you can remove certain adware you MUST know exactly what it is and then get instructions for deleting certain registry keys.

-GL

ID 10 T Error?

I'd bet that you've got a nice trojan running in the background sending hundreds of spam e-mails a minute or hosting some porno site.

What firewall and anti-virus are you running?

You should be able to hit ctl+alt+del, select the "processes"  tab and then click on the CPU column top to have the list sorted by the percentage of processor the program uses. You should see "System Idle Process" up at the top and other programs like your browser, taskmgr.exe, and your anti-virus program too.

Ha... HaHa... Ha...




[size=1]assholes[/size=1]

I run Ghost Surf, Black Ice, Internet Clean-up, and subscribe to Norton Anti-virus.  Took awhile to get all that software set so it would agree w/ one another; but the end product is I might get a banner ad or two once in a while, but that's it.  I also check for updates regularly and defrag every two - three weeks.

I understand this regimen isn't for everyone, but it sure works for me.

[lol] Just funnin' with ya Cypher.

I run norton 2003 virus scanner. I update all the time but my dad told me norton did not pick up a virus using a full system scan he thought there was one, so he took the time to scan individual folders and he found three infected files that norton did not pick up on a full scan. norton was able to fix them.