My computer screen freezes (the mouse freezes –a little blue circle next to the arrow– and the screen goes white and ‘Not Responding’ appears in the title bar.

It freezes after about 3-5 minutes especially if i open more than one page (be it web browser or notepad). I thought it was windows defender (since right before this happened I started getting an error that kept popping up) but that problem is fixed and it is still doing the same thing.

This is long but I want to be as detailed as possible so please help:

The problem:

When it freezes, I cant access anything, not even ctrl+alt+dlt so In order to get out of the freeze , I have to hold the power button down and power off and on each time. I’ve noticed that at startup I am brought to the Windows Error Recovery screen asking me to start normally, in safe mode, SM with networking or SM with command prompt (but I can’t remember if it’s been happening before or after the freezes started). Ive tried safe mode and it stops at windows\system32\drivers\crcdisk.sys — with ‘please wait’ at the bottom (at first i thought it was supposed to be taking it’s time but came back and hour later and it was in the same spot). Usually if I try to do safe mode and it stops there and I restart it, it will not go to the Windows error recovery screen but will go straight to the users — in normal mode. But the last time I did it, it did not start back up at all no matter how long I held the power button, (Im waiting it out).

I’ve tried SafeMode-networking once or twice but it doesnt even acknowledge it. If it loads, it just loads like normal (isnt safe mode supposed to be a much simpler desktop with HUGE icons?)

So I usually just go in normal mode, when I do this, it will send me to another screen, (this is the only thing I cant remember and cant pull back up bc comp is not turning on) but it asks me to do some kind of system scan/check for a file. Usually it doesn’t make it all the way through this process so I skip it by pressing a key bc even when it DID, the problem still existed.

The stats:

I have a Dell Inspiron 15. I run Windows Vista Home basic, service pk 2. I was using Internet Explorer but recently managed to squeeze Google Chrome on there before it froze up. No change. I installed and have run VirginMobile broadband2Go for a few months now and have not had the problem until now. And it even does this when I am on a friends regular hi-speed internet. I have a Penitum dual core processor and 2GB of Ram, 32 bit OS.

Im not sure if this is meaningful or not but some extra info is that there are 6 user accts on the comp. It doesnt matter which account anyone accesses it does it to all, even if I create a new one, it does the same. The Properties tab is saying that I have 101 GB of Free space.

What other info would you need to help me figure this out?

The longest I have been able to stay on (with very little activity) is 10 minutes. I better not double click too fast or open a new tab or Im screwed. I’ve been searching online but none of the others are having all of the problems Im having. Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.