This is a typical problem for most computer users. The most common reasons could be either the software issue and sometimes a hardware issue.

If you know which kind of issue it is, then it becomes a little more easy to tackle it. If you are in the dark as to what is wrong and you have had this computer for a long time working normally, it is time to think!

Some of things that I would do to ensure it is not a software problem:
1) Run an anti-virus scan on my system after a clean boot. (Clean boot usually is done through a boot CD/DVD or in some cases from a floppy drive, Yes some still use the floppies). If you are not sure how to create a bootdisk for your operating system visit www.bootdisk.com to get one for yourself!

If the anti-virus (you can use some good free ones like AVG, FPROT, NOD or professional ones like Symantec, Kasperisky etc.) gives you a clean chit, then you are good to go to the next step. If you run into issues with either a virus or trojan/spyware, ensure that you find out ways to clean this. (You can use some of the popular freeware / shareware like RootKit remover, Spyware remover, Spybot, Ewido etc. to get rid of them!)

2)The second step would be to examine the file system. What is the capacity of your hard drive? Do you still have around 20% free space? Have you installed new software recently after which the computer has become slow. If you are running out on disk space, use the DiskCleaner to clean / delete files that you don't need. Burn up the files that are large and just sitting on your hard drive (yes all those music albums!). It would be great to go ahead and tweak the harddrive a little by defragmenting it after you have removed all those unnecessary files. Run a scandisk before you defrag. Ensure that your swap file (the OS uses this to store files that are being used frequently to move data to and from the RAM). Delete this file (you can delete it if you are in Safe Mode) or recreate it by changing the size.

3) After you have done this, go ahead and check the startup programs that you have. You do not need all of them. Frankly! Check these. Remove the ones you do not need. (Msconfig to your rescue here!)

4)Ok. Now to something more interesting...but a little risky. However worth taking a chance when all fails. You may want to try the system restore option to get back to a time when your system was working fine. After you have done all this, cross your fingers and reboot your system.

If this solves your

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