Why computers freeze

Open Revo Uninstaller Pro. Navigate to Windows tools. Double click on Resource monitor and see which process takes most of your resources. If your RAM is not enough your computer performance can also be slowed down. Computer viruses Computer viruses can also be a reason why your computer freezes. They can corrupt your system and make your computer unusable.

Corrupted or Missing System Files Windows 10, Windows 7, or any other Microsoft operating system will freeze when there is a corrupted or missing system file. Software errors In some cases, software products cause computer freezes.

The reason behind this is that they try to use resources that Windows does not give access to. Another reason is that there is a bug in the program. There is also a chance that they are using too many resources and your system struggles to run them. To fix the issue you need to constantly update all the software products on your computer.

In case you are not using them you can remove them completely with products like Revo Uninstaller Pro 4. If they are outdated or they are corrupt, there is a high chance that you will experience random computer freezes.

Overheating If your computer operating temperature is high you can experience PC slowdown and eventually computer freezes. Faulty External Devices There are cases where an external USB drive or an external device such as a mouse or a keyboard can cause computer freezes. You can troubleshoot the problem by connecting them one by one and checking which devices are creating the issue. There are cases where your browser can get stuck on a specific page.

Because most of the current PC users are using browsers heavily it can feel that your computer freezes, but it is a single browser page. If the computer starts up fine, immediately back up your important information in case a serious problem is on the way.

Otherwise, you could find yourself scrambling through more complicated ways to get files off a dead computer. Then use the computer as normal until it freezes again, although it might not. Find out why a restart often makes problems disappear. If the computer does freeze again, then keep reading for more steps to take. While restarting, the computer might say there was an error with Windows and ask if you want to start normally or in Safe Mode.

The first time, choose to start Windows normally. Then back up your data and keep using the computer to see if it freezes again. If this is the second time your computer has frozen, choose to boot in "Safe Mode with Networking. If it does, then you could be looking at either a software or a hardware problem. If it doesn't freeze again while in Safe Mode, it's likely a software problem. Keep reading for tips to investigate both. If the computer freezes again immediately after it booting, whether in normal mode or Safe Mode, then you could have a serious software or hardware problem.

However, it's most likely a hardware problem. An occasional or consistent computer freeze could be the result of a program acting up. In Windows 8. Click here for more Task Manager tricks that you should know.

Start using your computer as normal, but keep an eye on the CPU, memory and disk categories. If the computer freezes, and one of these is really high, then that could be your answer.

Make a note of which area was really high then restart the computer and open Task Manager again. To reboot a frozen computer, press and hold down the power button until the computer turns off. Once the computer is off, wait a few seconds, then turn the computer back on and let it start as normal. During the computer startup process, you may see a screen asking if you want to start the computer in Safe Mode or Start Windows Normally.

Choose the Start Windows Normally option and see if Windows starts up correctly, without error. Any work not saved is lost when a frozen computer needs to be reboot. In some situations, some programs may autosave your work every few minutes. If the program you are using performs this action, you can recover the work up to the last autosaved state. If you tried all steps above and the computer still freezes, there may be defective hardware or a device driver that is not working correctly.

A defective hard drive , stick of RAM , video card , or another piece of hardware can cause a computer to freeze. A device driver can also cause a computer to freeze if it's out of date, conflicting with another driver, or not working properly. If you determine that a defective piece of hardware is causing the freezes, replace the hardware right away to prevent further damage to the computer.

If a device driver is at fault, download the latest driver from the manufacturer's website and install it before the computer freezes. Or use another computer to download the driver and try installing the driver on your computer.

If you cannot install the latest driver before the computer freezes, another option is to start the computer in Safe Mode. Once in Safe Mode, you can access Device Manager and uninstall the hardware device corresponding to the device driver that is not working correctly. Then, restart the computer and load into Windows normally. Windows should detect the hardware you uninstalled and try to reinstall the device driver.