Member Avatar for ranxston

Alright here's my problem. When I download install files that are bigger than 400megs when they get to 99% everything in my computer freezes up. Then about 15mins later it goes to 100% and everything is unfrozen. Then when I go in the folder where I downloaded the file, the icon is simply a exe icon and when I delete or open everything freezes again for a while then maybe 15mins later it opens. Since I bought this computer I keep getting that problem and its getting on my nerves so please help.

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Dani AI

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Short answer: the freeze is almost always caused by a background process that intercepts large writes (real‑time AV, shell extensions, indexing) or by slow/failing disk I/O. and are on the right track — here is a focused, safe way to pinpoint and fix the root cause.

Reproduce the hang once while you gather diagnostics. Do not leave protection off — either pause real‑time scanning for a single test or add an exclusion just for a test folder, then re‑enable protection. While reproducing, capture I/O with Process Monitor to see which process is doing long Read/Write/Query operations against the file path; filter the capture to the download folder to keep results readable (Process Monitor). Check Event Viewer/System logs for disk or NTFS errors at the same time.

Run a disk health and file system check next. A failing drive or bad sectors cause long retries that look like freezes: run chkdsk /f (schedule at reboot if needed) and review SMART with your drive maker’s diagnostic. If SMART reports problems, back up immediately and replace the disk (chkdsk docs).

If diagnostics show no hardware faults, test Explorer shell integration: disable non‑Microsoft shell extensions and context‑menu handlers (third‑party handlers can block Explorer during file operations). NirSoft’s ShellExView makes this quick. Also try downloading with a different browser or a download manager and save to another partition/external drive — if the issue disappears, it’s tied to a specific handler or target volume.

Quick tips: watch Disk Queue Length in Resource Monitor during the hang; only defragment after confirming disk health; update storage/chipset drivers. If tracing points to AV, set a download‑folder exclusion rather than leaving protection off.

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Member Avatar for nanosani

Are you using an antivirus ?? may be you can turn off the av and then try what you are doing now.

Member Avatar for Phaelax

Got enough memory? Could also be a fragmented drive possibly.

Member Avatar for ranxston

well I do have an anti-virus so I'll try that next time

I got 1gig of memory. Could also be a fragmented drive since I never defragmented my drives

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