Everything You Always Wanted to Know About "Why Does My Computer Freeze Up?"

By: Winston Mah

As a technical support specialist, a day would not be complete without any of these questions from the customers calling for help:

"My computer keeps on freezing. What shall I do?"

"My computer keeps freezing up! Help!"

I even received two emails that is so witty and made me think hard as well:

"Stop! Freeze!"

"Stop computer freeze. Please!"

So many inquiries, questions, issues but it all boils down to two major things that we need to do most of the time: keen observation and maintenance. Go back to the basics and don't think it over too much why it is doing so. It is no rocket science. Might be simple to say but it is really simple. Here are the things we need to do:

OBSERVE.

Think outside of the box, they say. The reason might not be in your computer but actually the hardware part of it. There might be too many things attached to your computer, wherein these things are turned on but you are not using them, and the latter is working too hard with the programs running at the same in your computer. These could also lead to conflicting with Windows allocated resources to multiple devices to those devices attached to your pc. Turn them off when you are not using them or at least unplug them while the computer is turned off and restart your computer once again.

Another thing to observe is if there is a new hardware that was attached to your computer recently and after doing so, your computer started to freeze up. For instance, the video card specifications might be too high for your CPU or it is not getting enough power from your power supply. Do check with your computer manufacturer what is the best upgrade for your hardware before buying any. The repair might cost you even more.

After checking the hardware part, it is now time for you to check the software part. A lot of reasons why the computer is acting so: too many programs running in the background, numerous startup programs / icons loaded, unneeded files and cookies eating up your memory, erroneous driver that needs updating, programs that are still residing in your pc that you no longer need that might be conflicting with your other programs and viruses.

The next thing to do is MAINTENANCE.

Once in a while, spare some time to check your computer. Prevention is better than cure. First, which is the easiest thing to do is to clean up your computer with unwanted files or cookies. These are files that are automatically loaded in your pc while you are surfing the net which you don't really need. Do this often, at least thrice a week so your computer won't pile up with unnecessary files and still have room for important ones.

Next is to check for the loaded start up program or icons on your desktop. While your computer is booting up, you might notice it takes time before you can actually use your pc. Are there too many icons displayed on your desktop? If so, remove the icons that you no longer need. These won't actually delete the program. The program would still be in your program files it is just the icon that you are deleting. However, if it is a file you chose to save in your desktop and you think it is important, you can try to move it in your unused desktop folder (if you can't see one on your desktop, create a new folder with the same title) and access it just when you need it. This will help minimize the clutter on your desktop.

Are there too many startup programs to load or too many programs running in the background? For startup programs, all of these will need to be loaded first before you can use your PC. Try to check if you need all of these programs once your computer starts. If not, you can use msconfig utility to reduce the programs that are running on startup. You can also use this utility to disable any programs that you don't really use or you don't want running while you are using your computer.

Another thing to watch out for is the programs still residing in your PC which you no longer use. Try removing them using the Add/remove programs. These can be your old antivirus programs version, previous version of your device driver, etc.

Worst of all, this can be an issue with malwares or virus. Always run your antivirus software to check your PC for any presence of virus / spywares. Do check, too, if your antivirus is up-to-date. If not, it is not configured to detect any new viruses that can crash your pc. Additionally, make sure that the firewall on this software is also enabled to protect you from hackers and any malicious activity that can invade your PC.

If all else fails, try visiting / calling your computer manufacturer or go to any of your nearest computer center to check your PC.

About the Author

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