Need help diagnosing momentary freezes


  1. SJMaye
    Posts : 208
    Windows 10 Professional
       New #1

    Need help diagnosing momentary freezes


    I am getting momentary freezes that I cannot figure out. The best way to explain it is the computer just stops randomly for a millisecond or so, then continues. This kills me during gaming, but still annoying just perusing the web. While scrolling down a page it will stop for what is about the blink of an eye and then continue.

    I have never had this happen before. The only change to the computer before this began was the installation of a VPN client. At first everything seemed to work as it did before, but now I wonder. I could live with it if I could disable the VPN and it would stop. It doesn't.

    Out of frustration yesterday I did a system restore to a point before the installation of the VPN client. For some reason the restore failed, however, the problem stopped. Now, this morning I turned the VPN on again and the problem is back.

    Can someone help me identify what is causing this?
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  3. spunk
    Posts : 4,791
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       New #2

    Try a Clean Boot, you can keep it this way, or you can add one Startup item, or Service at a time use it for a bit and then reboot and try one other until your browsers start lagging, then you will know the troubled program or driver.
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  4. SJMaye
    Posts : 208
    Windows 10 Professional
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Is there some way to track network, hdd, cpu real-time? I would like to know what is being interrupted when i experience this hiccup. You can see the hiccup in the Win10 spinning dots while a program.

    I have now uninstalled the VPN client and running stable for a couple days. The part I am struggling with is that once I experience this issue it does not matter if the VPN is running or not or even if I stop the client altogether (all that to my best recollection). Which leads me to believe something else related to the VPN stays running in the background even when the VPN is quit.
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  6. spunk
    Posts : 4,791
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       New #4

    Exactly what a Clean Boot is designed to do, stop all unnecessary programs running in the background.
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  7. SJMaye
    Posts : 208
    Windows 10 Professional
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Yes, I understand. It makes sense if I had no clue what program or service is the culprit. Since uninstalling the VPN client I have no experienced the problem in 2 days. This leads me back to the client. Or should I just do a clean boot as you describe?
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  8. spunk
    Posts : 4,791
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       New #6

    A Clean Boot is a troubleshooting measure for staggering or lagging computer. If the computer is working great since you removed the VPN, then you have found the problem, but if it comes back, do a Clean Boot
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  9. SJMaye
    Posts : 208
    Windows 10 Professional
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    OK. Thanks. Is there some way I can monitor network, HDD, CPU etc real-time while I am seeing this problem?
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  10. das10
    Posts : 3,274
    Win10
       New #8

    Yes. Look for Process Explorer, Process Monitor, TCPView, DiskMon from Microsoft Sysinternals Utilities.

    Sysinternals Utilities - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs
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