Open task manager, processes tab. When it "freezes" look in task manager and
see what using all the cpu cycles. Then kill the process and uninstall the
program if you can or post back what it is. Also do a virus scan and spyware
check.

Jon Davis wrote:
Every minute or so, the mouse freezes for anywhere between 1/2 to ten
seconds. I don't know if it's a hardware problem or a software
problem, but I really think it's a software problem, and I don't know
where to begin looking. In fact, I think it's Windows Explorer, or
something tied into it.

The reason why I think it's a software problem is because even though
Windows Explorer freezes while the mouse freezes, some other programs
do not. For instance, I might be playing a game, such as, say, the
Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo, and the mouse will just hang, while the
action continues. I can use the keys and keep running around, but I
can't change the direction I'm facing or fire my weapon because the
mouse is busy freezing for a few seconds. No change in frame rate.
Just frozen mouse. The mouse cable is fine.

It is the weirdest thing, only just started happening in the last few
weeks, and no, I don't remember any obvious installations I've done.
(Obviously this is caused by an installation or configuration change,
I just don't know what.)

I suppose it could also be a hardware problem, such as an IDE drive
problem perhaps, because Explorer is tied into those devices and it
does freeze if it can't read a drive. But my drives generally seem to
be working fine. Might my mapped drives over the network cause such
this kind of problem?

Help? Any ideas?

Jon