Re: Random crashes - please help?

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On Apr 15, 7:29 pm, Malke <ma...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well, your next course of action is to uninstall Sygate and Avast since you
have some information pointing to those programs! Both firewalls and
antivirus programs use low-level drivers and can cause problems. I also
used Sygate on my Windows machines for years but found that it started
causing issues. I don't know if it was a combination of updates, other
software, whatever, but I uninstalled Sygate on all my Windows boxen and
have had no issues with network connectivity since then.

I like Avast and use it on my Windows machines and for clients who want a
free antivirus (NOD32 for a paid one). Occasionally I'll run across a
machine where Avast just won't play nicely. This can happen with other
antivirus programs, too.

So uninstall Sygate and use the built-in XP firewall, which is adequate for
most people. Disconnect from the Internet and run your computer for a
useful period of time without installing a different antivirus. If all is
well, then try another AV program. As I said, I really like NOD32 but if
you want a free program aside from Avast, try Avira. Lots of people like
AVG; I'm not fond of it any more but others whom I respect still like it.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computerswww.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Hi Malke

I'm slowly ruling things out. I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic for
a few hours.. and there were no errors. I still need to clean out my
tower, which I'll probably do this weekend.

I also tried things like disabling hyperthreading (which I heard can
cause BSOD's).. didn't help so I turned it back on. I deleted my old
pagefile.sys and created a new one thinking maybe the virual memory
got corrupted. I also tried turning off the indexing service which I
heard can cause a system to crash. None of these seemed to help.

I'd ~really~ hate to uninstall Sygate because for one.. I do not like
the idea of going online without a firewall ( XP's just monitors
incoming data.. not outgoing ). And two, I'm ~very~ used to Sygate. If
I were to uninstall it.. I would need a substitute. I just don't feel
safe online without a firewall. And the choice of good free ones are
pretty slim.

Same goes for an anti-virus program. I don't download a lot of
programs.. and when I do 99% of the time it's from a trusted source.
And when I browse the web.. I tend to stay away from sites I don't
trust. But nonetheless.. I feel more secure with an AV program running
in the background. So as with Sygate.. if I were to uninstall Avast..
I'd most definitely need a replacement.

So, if I don't find any solutions and my system continues to crash
frequently.. as a last resort I'll uninstall Sygate and find a new
firewall. And if the problem still persists.. I'll then uninstall
Avast and find another AV program.

Thanks again for replying!

ps) Any other advice will be greatly appreciated!
.

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