Control panel, administrative tools, event viewer.
Click on the errors to get some clues.
When your machine fails look at the clock, then go to the event viewer and
look for errors around that time, both for the system and applications.

--
Bob Noble
[url]http://www.sonic.net/bnoble[/url]
"Frank" <Frank@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ABEE08AE-755C-421C-9C74-255E5C476D1D@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> Hi there,
> I'm hoping someone can shed some light. I have a Vista laptop which is
> factory spec (Spec:
> [url]http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/jsp/productPage.do?service=UK&PRODUCT_ID=128153#0[/url]
> ). It is up to date with virus and malware scanning and I use it mainly
> for
> internet and work, being quite wary of what I install on it.
> In the last month it has been a lot more sluggish, with different programs
> freezing, then displaying "Not Responding" in the window; this can happen
> in
> anything that I'm using from Internet Explorer to MSN messenger.
> Sometimes
> even Vista freezes with refusing to acknowledge Start menu clicks or task
> bar
> clicks. It takes anything from 10 - 30 seconds for it to resolve and to
> work fine again. These errors happen intermittantly every few minutes.
> I'm not sure if it's related or coincidental but I've noticed the
> harddrive
> light will sometimes be lit whilst this is happening, without the sound of
> the harddrive actually being active.
>
> Please can someone shed some light on this and how to fix it.[/color]