computer hangs for 5 sec. or so

there is a bit more information needed How much ram is each computer have? are you networked?
what programs are you running in the background?
what anti-viral program are you running? Do you have system monitor running and or scheduling?
when this occures I would recommend that you check your free memory percentage. If its running less than 50% then you have a memory leak .. ie one program that is running is hogging memory resources

I have seen this behavior on W98 PCs after installing IE6.

I have seen so many problems with IE6 on W98 PCs that I now stop IE updates at version 5.5 SP2.

I would either use the Resource Meter option, or install a memory manager, and monitor free RAM, I suspect that you will find the amount of free RAM drops as the PC is on, and drops to near zero when the PC pauses.

If so, your options are to perform a clean install of Windows, or install an automatic memory manager.

You can also have some strange problems with W98 when you install more than 511MB of RAM.

The core code just doesn't know what to do with large amounts of RAM.
(This bug is VERY configuration dependant.)

Chas

As the above post says, more info please.
Also, clear your temp files.

Download ADAware from http:\\www.lavasoftusa.com and run a system scan to find any programs that may be running in the background and consuming resources.

Make sure to determine what apps are running in the background. You should be able to determine what each app is by and do a search on the web for each one. If you don't need it uninstall it or disable it. FindFast is notorious forthis type of behavior and is mainly used in early versions of M.S' word processing (Word 97, M.S. Works). See if it's in your startup.

i tryed this before see if it works this time
there is no programs that are the same on the 2 computers one is at a home and the other is in a office the only program that is runing is zone alarm on the home pc the only thing that is the same on the 2 pc's is win98.
thanks

I suspect somnething is running and/or not releasing memory.

You might try going to http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?param=resource+assistant&st=kw and download the resource assistant.

All the detials are on the site, andyou do not have to have a Gateway computer for it to work.

It sounds very much like you have a problem with system resources. Try the following.
The name of the swapfile used by Windows 98 can be changed by adding a PagingFile= line to the 386Enh section of the System.ini file. If the path specified for the swapfile includes a lowercase drive letter, it can cause Windows 98 Second Edition to occasionally hang during a suspend.
To resolve this issue, change the lowercase drive letter specified for the swapfile path in the System.ini file to uppercase. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type msconfig, and then click OK.
Click the System.ini tab, double-click 386Enh to expand the branch, click PagingFile=, and then click Edit.
Change the drive letter to uppercase. For example, change the following line from

PagingFile=d:\win386.swp

to

PagingFile=D:\win386.swp.

Click Apply, click OK, and then click Yes to restart your computer.

One note: Win98 can only effectively handle a MAX of 128MB RAM. Any morethan this and you will have the same problem as you do now.

The possible cause for the related prblem may be:
1) Faulty RAM
2) CPU fan may not be funtioning properly.
3) Any backgroud process like antivirus or screen savers like After Dark or Webshots (resouce hungry) may be running.
4) The SMPS fan may not be working properly due to which the power supply to the mother board is disturbed.
5) Virus Infection on the system.

Check out these things and hopefully the problem will resolve.

vinod sharma