Any way to troubleshoot Windows 7 lockups?

Lately, Windows 7 is locking up on my laptop. I can't seem to narrow it to any application causing this. I believe Firefox was open during every lockup by I wasn't always working in Firefox when it happens.
What happens is that the machine locks up, I'm able to pull up task manager, but applications refuse the forced closing through the task manager. I'm then forced to do a hard reset.
Is there any utility either add-on or internal to Windows 7 that would allow me to diagnose the cause of a Window7 lockup condition?
Thanks

 

You can't close applications but did you try closing processes?

Next time when you have a lock up try to kill the "explorer.exe" process(hit the "processes" tab in the Task Manager to see all the running processes), if it works it should close all programs and you'll see just your wallpaper and the Task Manager. Then click File->Run on the Task Manager, type explorer and hit enter, this way you should be back to your original desktop.

If by doing this your OS recover from the lock up it's likely a software or some Windows service is causing it. Go to Control Panel->Admin tools->Event Viewer. Check the Windows Log, System and Applications tabs. Look for errors/warnings produced by the time of the lock up.

 

try this program, i use it all the time
Resplendence Software - Advanced System Tools and Developer Components

 

not a word as to the hardware involved, memory, cpu, firefox version, other browser-related software that might be installed, how current driver levels might be, patches applied, etc..........