Very annoying problem here.
I'm running Windows 98SE with all the latest critical and recommended updates. System is an E-machine 366i2, which has a Celeron 366 CPU. It has 64 megabytes of SD-RAM. Has Soundblaster Live, video card is 3-D Blaster Banshee w/ 16mb video SDRAM, and a trendNet ISA Ethernet card. This PC has no modem, but accesses the internet via a crossover network. The host computer has a 56k dial-up connection.
What happens is, after a fresh start (or reboot) of Windows 98SE, things work normally. Most of my online activity takes place in communication with POP3, SMTP and NNTP (usenet news) servers. I use Agent 1.8/32.548 for mail and news. As time goes on, my system begins to seize up for a fraction of a second, then releases and runs a few seconds, then seizes again. As more time passes, the periods of seizing become longer and the periods of time when I can do something to interact decreases until finally the computer is not even usable when communicating with an NNTP or POP server. At that point, it also seizes when no online activity is taking place, but it's not as bad. Also it doesn't seem to seize nearly as bad when downloading web content.
I have stripped my running applications fairly low. In the system tray, I have Zone Alarm and MSN Messenger running, as well as TClockEx, a system resource monitor/tray clock, etc... I do not run systray.exe at startup because I don't need any of the applications that provides.
One final note, this is a fresh install of Windows 98SE. I had the same setup in my old installation, and the same software, but did not have these problems.
I'm not running any virus protection.
The only programs listed in the task monitor are:
Explorer
ZoneAlarm (Zone Alarm, of course)
Msmsgs (MSN Messenger)
Pfppop70 (I dunno what that is)
Em_exec (this is the Logitech mouse button assignment)
And of course, Agent 1.8 is one of the entries, as well as Internet Explorer.
As for not running the systray.exe, I was running it before, but stopping it made no difference.
There is one thing I'm not quite sure of and that's my network TCP/IP settings. Since the problem arises during online activity, perhaps there's something in my network settings I should change. Here's what I have so far:
Network Settings
TCP/IP -> Dial-Up Adapter
.. DNS Configuration Tab
..... (x) Enable DNS
........ Host: (name of client computer, melinda)
........ Domain: -empty-
........ DNS Server Search Order
........... 192.168.1.1
........ Domain Suffix Search Order
........... -empty-
.. Gateway
..... Installed Gateway
........ 192.168.1.1
.. WINS Configuration
..... (x) Use DHCP for WINS Resolution
.. IP Address
..... (x) Obtain an IP address automatically
TCP/IP -> Dial-Up Adapter #2 (VPN Support)
.. DNS Configuration
..... (x) Enable DNS
........ Host: name of host computer, melinda
........ Domain: -empty-
........ DNS Server Search Order
........... 192.168.1.1
........ Domain Suffix Search Order
........... -empty-
.. Gateway
..... Installed gateways:
....... -empty-
.. WINS Configuration
..... (x) Disable WINS Resolution
.. IP Address
..... (x) Obtain an IP address automatically
TCP/IP -> Realtek RTL8019 PnP LAN adapter or compatible
.. DNS Configuration
..... (x) Enable DNS
........ Host: name of host computer (melinda)
........ Domain: -empty-
..... DNS Server Search Order
........ 192.168.1.1
..... Domain Suffix Search Order
........ -empty-
.. Gateway
..... Installed Gateways
........ 192.168.1.1
.. WINS Configuration
..... (x) Disable WINS Resolution
.. IP Address
..... (x) Specify an IP address:
........ IP Address: 192.168.1.2
........ Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
I'm thinking that if my settings above aren't just perfect, perhaps that could cause my system to behave badly as time passes. If I need to make any corrections, please copy and paste the appropriate section into a new message and make the changes so I'll be sure to enter them in the proper settings panel.
A reboot fixes everything, then we go back through this whole experience again, every time.
More info available if needed. I've tried to provide everything relevant I could think of.
Thanks,
Firedraake
