My friend use to have a problem with her computer logging her out of the internet if she left it idle for longer then 5 minutes. Then she is left with having to reboot her computer to get back up and running again. She did a system restore to a time when everything was working properly and that seem to fix the problem for awhile. Until last night. Now it will not even open anything that has to do with the web.


This sounds like a networking problem doesn't it? I am trying to give her advice on how to fix it, but I think the best thing would to be call her internet provider.

sounds as if it went into safemode!

How is that possible though? She has not told her computer to go in to safe mode. It is still the main XP page.

First thing that comes to mind;

R-click My Computer . . .Properties . . .
Hardware Tab\Device Manager . . .

Look for and Double-click Network Adapters
Double-click the adapter found (or each, one at a a time)
Click to open the Power Management tab . . .

Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

So many minutes later . . . if it still locks up (Internet only??)
Time to check the browser settings. Think ab out consistencies;
Does it alway freeze after x minutes, after going to a specific site, with specific apps open

Quickest check is to install another browser - Firefox, if the current is IE, or vice versa. Does the same thing happen?

Try
control panel
Power options
Change when the computer sleeps

Thank you, I have passed this information onto her. She is able to get onto MSN although it took her 1.5 hours of trying. And I know that FireFox is her main browser, as I think I recall her telling me the IE freezes her computer.

OK, the power saving mode thing did not help any. And just found out that it does not matter what site she goes to after 2-5 minutes, it locks up on her.

Just got in . . .
Something may be using up her bandwidth in the background.

Have her put the machine into Selective Startup. Something new in the PC is running interference. SS is a god way to begin to find out what.

Go to Start\Run . . . Type in "msconfig",
Press Enter
Click on the Startup tab and make a note as to what's already unselected there (this'll make sense in a sec). Also if she uses WiFi, she'll want to reselect it after the next step.

Go back to the General tab and select Selective Startup, removing the check from Load Startup Items

Next,
Go to the Services Tab, check Hide all MS svcs
click Disable all. Again, any network, protection, or other items she feels are needed should be reselected.

Click OK, and allow the machine to reboot.
It will startup with enough to run Windows. The aim is to eliminate whatever recent add-in is responsible for halting her 'Net service.

The catch is, if it works she gets to look back over the list to determine what it is through the process of elimination.

Whether or not this is successful, she'll want to return the machine to its orig state (minus the troublemaker) by going back into the Configuration Utility and selecting Normal Startup.

Hope this helps . . .

Registry. Anyway, have her get someone (or you) to download some sort of anti-spyware (spybot S&D, Ad-aware, etc.) and do a scan with it. It seems to me something has changed a registry entry if her PC locks up.

Forgot to mention: Put it on a CD or Floppy depending on the size of the program to give to her for use, make sure you either put the .rar file on or a .exe depending if you trust the site that gave you the file (.exe is notorious for virus's).

Good idea. She'll want to run that scan while the pc is disconnected from the Internet and/or in safe mode. Hopefully the lockup delay says the troublemaker is waiting for an open active port. If its inactive, it should (?) be easier to detect and remove.