My Computer Freezes
A computer freezes for several reasons: malware, hardware malfunction, software problems, and overheating. This last symptom happens as a protective measure. As the device overheats, the operating system starts slowing down everything. Software issues like corrupted or outdated files can cause considerable poor performance. Running too many programs in the background causes the computer to freeze. Finally, hardware failure like a defective hard drive will not make the problem any better.
If any of the previous situations stop you from continuing your work, try the following hints to see if your device responds to the commands:
1) Wait. Even when waiting is not the quickest solution, giving time to a device to run is wiser than a hard restart; especially, you have unsaved work or documents you don't want to lose. Then, try to wait a little. You may also see a message that a program is "not responding", which offers you an opportunity to close just that program before you see your computer running normal again.
2) ALT+TAB. Even though the system appeared completely locked up, ALT+TAB — the keyboard shortcut to switch between running programs — worked. This allowed me to switch to a different program and regain control of the system. Eventually, the used program will begin showing the “spinning circle” icon with the mouse pointer over it, and the “not responding” message will pop up, allowing you to terminate that process.
3) CTRL+ESC. The CTRL+ESC keyboard shortcut is the equivalent of clicking on the Start button. This does two things: it displays the Start menu, of course, but it also transfers control to explorer.exe, which is the program that displays the Start menu and taskbar. Much like ALT+TAB, giving another program control can sometimes free things up.
4) CTRL+ALT+Delete. This age-old keyboard shortcut brings up a dialog with an assortment of possible useful options. If it works, then the two most useful are:
-Sign out signs you out of your current session, possibly closing whichever app caused the lockup. This can take a few seconds.
-Task Manager should return you to your desktop with Task Manager displayed. Here you may be able to force-close the problematic application, if you know what it is, or restart the system.
5) Reboot (graceful). If all the techniques above fail to rectify the problem, then the next step is a reboot. If an option above gave you access to the option to reboot — perhaps on the Start menu or via Task Manager — doing so this way would be the most “graceful” reboot. It’s the method least likely to lose data or cause other problems. Since there may be a misbehaving application, this might take a minute or two, but if it’s an option, it’s worth waiting for.
6) Reboot (forced). The last option, which is one many people start with, is to force a reboot. That means holding the power button down for 10 or 20 seconds, switching off the power supply, unplugging the computer, or, in some now-rare cases, removing a laptop’s battery.