PocketMatrix

As for the temp, the thermal's almost definitely what's causing the problem. First of all, the thermal should be VERY thin, transulent or almost translucent. It should also be even. Use a razor blade to apply the thermal. Also, what thermal are you using? You should be using Arctic Silver/Arctic Alumina/Ceramique. Another problem could be the heatsink; what are you using? If it's a crappy heatsink (such as a no-brand aluminum one or an Orb) that might explain it. Get a Thermalright SK-6+; 400 grams of solid copper, $10, works like a dream. The fan really doesn't make a huge difference; it's most likely a bad heatsink and/or the thermal's too thick, uneven, or you didn't apply it correctly. Go to to see how you should put it on.

Yeah, for some reason my comp also can't detect the fan. Not a huge problem for me, though.

As for windows being slow, did you go to Task Manager and look to see what processes, if any, are taking up all the CPU power?
You might want to consider reinstalling windows if all else fails; if it's still slow then, then that means something's really wrong with the hardware.

As for #2, defrag and disable startup apps first. If that doesn't do it, then just succumb to Win's cruft and reinstall.

Hermmm.. Well, I'm not sure what type of thermal compound I use.. my dad grabbed it from work, and I'll bet that I put it on too thick.. OK, I'll take some off with the help of my dad tonight.
XP.. I'll bet that I messed with the Security snap-in with the MMC.. making all programs go through a bunch of security protocols to start and work... And since I made no records of the event, I'll probably have to re-install.
Hmmmm... although re-formatting sounds OK, too.

I had your #2 problem once. I found a HelloKitty program running in the background. Open more than two windows and it freezes. I closed that bastard down

Yeah, I had the same program, got it off of Kazaa once. Annoying little bitch, made BF1942 unplayable every 5 minutes or so.

The thing is... Freelancer and other games run fine...

Are you running an ATI Radeon graphics card? I've been having trouble with it locking up only in SOME games and not others, really strange.

But, lol, I squeezed out a TON of arctic silver onto every one of my heatsinks and just squish the heatsink down onto the chip. It seems fine like that, doesn't seem to be too much on, either. I rub it around in circles and pick it back up off to make sure it's even, but I get 56*C idle (with a, supposedly, 75 degree F room temp) and 60*C on load with my 1.3GHz Athlon. I think I've found a pattern to my crashes though. Whenever something crashes I always read the 12V register and it says it's been running at 12.4V for over 30 seconds steady just before the comp crashes, and I see it sustained for that long a time no where else. And this is only since I installed my Radeon, which requires external power. I think it's a combination of a bad power supply and bad drivers.

Well, I'm getting 50 degrees or so with my 1.88 GHz Thoroughbred (overclocked from 1.45 Ghz)

Thoroughbreds run MUCH cooler than the older Athlons. What voltage does your CPU run at, Damian? Mine is 1.75V (which with my powersupply is usually 1.77 or 1.74) Your's should be around 1.65V, which is MUCH cooler. I set mine at 1.65V and it was a good 7 degrees cooler, but it crashed more often, and mine is rated for a max temp of 90*C so I'm not worrying. It warms my room on a cold morning.

If you don't know that much about computers, nothing like that will happen!

exactly

LOL, this is true.

I average 60-70 degrees on my Athlon 1400 and it's stable as a rock.

No, I use the nVidia GeForce4 Ti4400. And... I have a 1.33 T-*bird* I believe..
Or is it a thouroughbred?
/me is confused