One thing I believe it might be is another piece of hardware...your mouse! I have a Microsoft Intellipoint Mouse, the laser one with browser buttons (back and forth) and the click and scroll wheel. It has incompatibility issues when sending signals back and forth to the computer through the USB. Occasionally, the mouse will send a signal that total confuses the computer, and freezes. I know it sound odd, but I thought it was everything else before so I backed up my computer and reformatted. Then, after installing the OS, i started it all up, this time without the mouse, and did so for about a week (it's a laptop). Then, I remembered it and installed it in the back - not even THREE seconds, then the computer freezes - i was INFURIATED! Now, I have the problem again, every time I try to uninstall the software, the computer freezes! I can't do it in safe mode, either (unbelieveable) due to disabling of microsoft installer...now, I'm going to have to disable things through misconfig and try to uninstall the software - anyone have similar problems?