Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Maverick22 994]

Does anyone know what causes the computer to freeze, but only when using outlook express.  The machine takes an age to boot up and to download a picture, which used to take 20 seconds, now takes up to ten minutes.  Have tried defragmenting and disc clean up, but this makes no difference.  Broadband, 2.2mbps, memory is 1GB.(not my computer, sisters).  You cannot always get the machine to shut down by normal means, you have to turn it off at the mains to stop it.

[Penbwlch 810]

Have you checked for spyware? Whenever a computer slows down when connected to the internet, the first suspect must always be spyware as it all queues up to report your movements to its owner.

Two of the best spyware detectors/removers (both have free versions) are:

Ad-Aware

and

Spybot Search & Destroy

To be extra sure, run one after the other.

Then install SpywarBlaster to help prevent further infection.