Screen freezes in Yahoo mail

I had similar problems recently on multiple computers. I submitted a ticket to Yahoo - they did something - haven't seen it since.

It sounds like you have a memory problem.

This can be due to:

- Bad JavaScript on the part of the site.
- Not enough RAM on the Machine (Vista Hogs RAM and you may not have enough for your OS, much less intensive JavaScript).
- Memory leaks by the browser or installed plugins.

Vista's "Minimum RAM Requirements" are not realistic for smooth use of the operating system, and 1GB of RAM is still too little for many peoople. If you have less than 1GB of RAM I recommend a RAM upgrade (the cheapest and easiest way to get the most out of a computer) regardless of the mail problem.

Bad JavaScript is possible, but Yahoo is fairly large and does fairly well with JavaScript. They have a few versions of their mail service with varying degrees of JavaScript but the bottom line is that it should work for you, so the solution of choosing a lighter web app is a bad one in my opinion.

You may have plugins on your browser that cause memory leaks or additional resource usage. I'd disable or uninstall them to see if they are causing problems.

When you use task manager to close IE, what are the CPU and RAM usage levels for the browser's processes?

Have you tried another browser to see if the issue is IE or its plugins?

It's hard to tell without knowing what your RAM configuration is and what's happening when your computer "freezes" but I'm pretty sure this is one of the above issues.

Well, it's got 2 gigabytes memory, though I have no idea how it might be configured. In other words, I bought this thing about three months ago, plugged it in, and ran with whatever they gave me.

Yep, I will work towards eliminating possibilities, and will start with the browser. I'll probably see how it works with Netscape.

Thanks

I'll try contacting Yahoo, cj. Last time I tried, it took forever to dig out the contact information, but if it works, it's worth it.

Hmm, 2 GB should be enough. Unless it's on Yahoo's end I suspect there's something wrong with your browser (and probably with a third-party plug in).

Yahoo does a good job at obscuring their contact forms. It's understandable given the amount of users they have and that they provide free services but this may be a start:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/forms_index.html

I can't tell since it asks me to login to yahoo and I don't have a yahoo account I remember the authentication for.

Thanks for the direction. Based on my prior experience, that's worth an easy two hours of frustration.

Yeah I've been through that before and learned my lesson, in the future if you need to contact Yahoo you can probably find it faster with a search engine than browsing their help desk.

It took me 2 searches and about 40 seconds. But even then I found a Yahoo Canada page and had to guess at the US url. It certainly isn't easy, but if I were Yahoo I'd not even make it that easy so I understand.

Here are two other possible contact forms (again, they require login so I'm not sure):

http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_feedback

http://feedback.mail.yahoo.com/betafeedback_mailbeta

The second one is for the new Yahoo mail system with draggable email and all.

I forgot to mention I do have a paid Yahoo account - that makes it easier for me. I did get what appears to be the exact same problem though - and I fought with my laptop for hours until I finally realized I had the same problem on other computers. Try contacting them. Good luck.

Tentatively, I'm going to put this down as Resolved.

The problems started with going to Vista and the new computer at the same time. They went away with the installation of an updated Yahoo Toolbar. Now, I had being trying to download this thing every couple of days. Yesterday, the installation went to completion, and there have been no problems since. I'm holding my breath in hopes this is not just coincidence.

Thanks a lot. Really Big Thanks a lot. Did the yahoo toolbar upgrade, and it solved the screen freezing problem while logging in to yahoo mail. Once again. Thanks!!