I have been dealing with this issue for a while now and it always happens in late afternoon time. I can't nail down a specific time but in the 3-5pm (today happened at 4:40) range.
I am using Windows 8 on a ASUS Laptop.
What happens is a few programs go unresponsive and change to the "Not Responding" bar at the top. When looking at Task Manager, it usually shows the few programs that go unresponsive.
Any window I try to close/touch goes unresponsive. When I am fortunate enough to have task manager open already trying to end tasks has no effect. I can still move my mouse around but I can't get anything done. Also the network seems to stop working when dealing with this issue and trying to refresh in Chrome just keep spinning but I can not confirm the network is down because the task bar has already gone unresponsive and is not doing any more draws.
When looking at the task manager during this issue, nothing is pinged or using a lot of CPU, RAM, disk, network, etc so it isn't just bogged down.
When the problem arises, I have to cold shutdown my laptop (just hold the power button), wait a bit then power it back on and it seems to work fine all the way until I have to go to bed.
I usually have these programs open: Chrome(multiple windows), AIM, Skype, Task Manager. In the icon tray, I have Norton Security Suite, Google Drive, Asus USB charger Plus, Asus Smart Gesture, and Asus Live Update.
I just ran CCleaner a couple days ago cleaning up the registry and disk cleanup. I tried to use Task Scheduler to find what events fire at that time but I can't find a way to filter events that happen at a certain time. I have already turned on "All tasks History".
What can I do to diagnose this problem? (event or system logger/monitor?)
Update 2013-10-10:
I had a hunch that AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was the culprit so I no longer run that program and instead use Pidgin which allows you to chat with your same account on many chat networks including AIM. I have way way less freeze ups / unrecoverable unresponsive so I assume AIM was causing the issue.