I've been having the same problem. It took me 5 times to log in to answer your heading. For a couple months I could only answer c. 1 out of 4 postings that I wished to because I could not log on, yesterday I tried logging in and failing and then trying again two more times and succeeded on the third try. Luxrosa

I figured it out - the pages that turn color are with the ads for Sherwin Williams Paint. It's too bad, cause I like Sherwin Williams, but if they're going to use such invasive ads, I'll buy my paint elsewhere. There are lots of paint stores to choose from. I find myself spending less and less time here, because of the ads. I just don't have the time or patience to wait for everything to load, and the pages going up and down all the time just drive me nuts. It's like a carnival game to try to click on a thread - you never know which thread you're going to open! Sally

For some reason, I just cannot fall in love with Firefox, even though I have had it on my computers through various versions including 3.5. And IE is absolutely so slow, even v.8 that I use it only when I have to. I keep going back to Opera since I have never had the problems that others have had with GW. I do use Chrome to view a few websites, just because I like to keep it up to date. It's nice and fast and both it and Opera are not loaded down with a bunch of add-ons---just not necessary.

Freeze up and not responding are often related to your internet connection. Are you using a wireless connection? If so, try a direct connection and see if there's a difference. As stated before I'm not a fan of Firefox and especially for someone who's not very computer "techy". It requires a lot of updates and things so it's definitely more for the geeks. I'd recommend Opera long before it. Opera is a proven, well designed browser and not a committee project. K-meleon is another good browser, albeit more simple. It's also open source, as is Firefox but doesn't seem to have anywhere near the issues Firefox has. Chrome is a relative newcomer but a very good browser and I'm using it more and more although nothing compares to Opera in my book. All three are much faster browsers than Firefox too and I definitely notice the difference. I always encourage people to try out several browsers and give them a workout so they get a good feel for them. I'm troubled when I hear people claim there's only one of most anything in the way of good programs. FWIW I often run two or three different browsers at the same time. You don't have to be committed to just one browser. I totally disagree with those who fear registry cleaners and saying to never use them is poor advice. There's also people who say to never do Windows Updates or update virus/malware definitions, or to never run a disk check or defrag because "it can cause problems, which is equally bad advice. I would not recommend using registry cleaners daily but I've used Ccleaner (and other registry cleaners) for probably 10 years now and on thousands of computers I've serviced and set up over the years. Not once has there been as issue attributable to any registry cleaner I've recommended. If you're apprehensive about it, back up the registry. Simple enough. Now you do it by doing a "system restore". Also, Ccleaner gives you the option to make a backup of the changes made. Again, if apprehensive, do it. A good friend of mine always said never show fear to a computer - they smell it! :) And I always say backup your computer. At least important stuff. People don't seem to understand what the "registry" actually is. It's not a mysterious deity watching over you every day. It's nothing more than a text file, one of the simplest files on a computer. Now I will agree that haphazardly using registry cleaners that aren't proven could and I emphasise could cause issues. But the registry cleaner in Ccleaner is a very basic cleaner. There are many that go far deeper in cleaning on the registry and some are very good but like anything, there's good and bad. The easiest way to access the task manager is to right click on an open spot on the taskbar and select task manager. How old is your computer, what version of Windows are you running and what do you use for maintenance on it? Are you running a firewall? Do you do the Windows Updates regularly? Have you done a disk check and defrag lately? Updated virus/malware definitions?