I used to have a problem where my computer would freeze when I accessed the admin control panel, but that was fixed by upgrading my browser, though I'm not sure what the original cause was... I've never had freeze up problems with the main site except when those idiots were PMing messages with 50 flashes squeezed down to 1 px.

If I'm reading you right, you're saying that you have to reinstall Windows after it freezes? If so, that's stranger than strange.