Hardware testing.

[P Echo]

I've been asked to triage a laptop running windows xp   I know that my
problem is off topic, but the question is "on" I think.

My intention is to do hardware and memory testing from an Ubuntu live
CD before having to dig into the guts of XP to try and solve.

I have in the past DL'd and burned several rescue type CDs  But for
this purpose, I thought I would just run the memory test provided on
the Ubuntu live CD, then from a live environment, use the built in
hardware test tools.  Anyone's experience lead to any better ideas?
Reasons why I should use some other tools?

If it matters, the symptoms are multiple, repeated crashes of things
like MS Word, especially when trying to cut and paste from MS Excel.
(WinDUHs not even playing nice with itself)  I assume the normal bloat
and crap-ware on the system, but want to exclude hardware problems
first.  It is a Dell Laptop, @ 3 years old.  No model or other yet.

Thanks for any thoughts.

-- Patton