How do you stop your PC from crashing?

Answer 1

5 Ways to Stop Your Computer From Crashing

Unfortunately, marked improvements in computer reliability have not eliminated the fact that computers do still on occasion "freeze" or "hang." Or even worse, "crash". However, you can take measures to minimise if not eliminate PC crashes and freeze ups. Here's how.

1. Upgrade to the latest operating system The stability of a PC's operating system is the key to computer reliability and availability. The code used to build the latest versions generally improves on the code woven into earlier ones.

That's usually the case with Microsoft Windows. A test report from eTesting Labs Inc. shows that Windows XP Professional is significantly less crash-prone than the now two generations older Windows 98 Second Edition.

2. Take virus protection seriously New Computer Viruses go into circulation on the internet every day. A virus can erase or corrupt files on your hard drive and trigger a computer crash. Be sure to:

-Install antivirus software and keep it updated.

-Use caution when opening and installing files. Ask yourself if you trust the source of the file before taking any action.

3. Keep your software up-to-date Software companies continue to make improvements to their products after they're released to the public. These updates are packaged in the form of service packs.

Use the Windows Update (US link) feature to automatically download the latest service packs and critical security patches. If you're already using Windows XP, be sure to install the latest service pack available. To ensure that Microsoft Office System applications such as Word, Outlook and Excel have the latest security updates, visit the Office Update site.

4. Use care when installing new programs or drivers Computer problems often arise after adding new programs or drivers. Drivers are small programs that make your printer, graphics adapter, sound card and other hardware devices work with your computer's operating system.

If you have multiple new programs or drivers to install, install one and then make sure your PC is operating correctly before you install the next one. This way you can more easily identify if a particular program has caused a problem.

One advantage of running Windows XP Professional on your computer is that unlike Windows 2000 and Windows 98 , it has built-in tools to rescue your PC from programs that make it behave badly.

5. Provide surge protection and backup power PCs house voltage-sensitive components that a power surge can easily damage. A spike in the electrical output from a wall plug will at minimum shorten the life of your computer. It could also crash and destroy your system, taking all your data with it.

Surge protection devices work as a buffer between the electrical supply in your building and your PC. They are fairly inexpensive especially when compared to the cost of replacing a PC. For a bit more money, a device called an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) provides surge protection as well as a back-up battery to keep your PC running in the event of a power outage. This keeps you from losing data you haven't saved, and allows you to keep working for at least another 10 to 15 minutes.

A slow computer can be as frustrating as one that crashes or freezes. You also might consider adopting a regimen of regular system maintenance. Defragmenting your hard disk, checking the hard disk for errors and deleting temporary files can improve system speed and performance. Using Windows Scheduled Tasks feature is a simple way to automate your PC maintenance chores.

In some cases, the CPU or the video card could be overheating. So check the CPU, GPU, and case fans to see if they are working and adequate.

Answer 2

A computer can 'crash' or 'freeze'. There is a difference.

A computer crashes when a hardware failure occurs, from which there is no logical recovery: a physical replacement must take place. An example of this is when a hard disk read-write head flies too close to the medium that it's reading, and touches it. Because the medium is rotating at such a high speed, the head becomes damaged and can no longer read or write. In this case, the hard disk must be replaced.

A computer freezes when 'something' in the logic fails to perform as expected. Culprits in a computer freeze might be the operating system, newly installed software, a new hardware driver, 'ineffective housekeeping' of critical and limited resources, such as registries, or some mysterious cause. In this case, rebooting your computer can often return it to a useful state.

Answer 3

You should download and install Microsoft Security Essentials from Microsoft's website. If that doesn't work, boot into safew mode by pressing F8 repeatedly while your computer is booting up, and selecting "Safe Mode With Networking". Try to install it again, and if it still doesn't work, type in the start menu "msconfig". Click on the program and go to the startup tab. Look for any suspicious programs, but before disabling it. Google the program to make sure that it isn't actually important. Click on apply and then reboot. This should fix your problem.

Answer 4

You can try Windows System restore, if it is running the Windows Operating System. To access this tool, open your start menu, click on "All Programs," then "Accessories" and "System Tools." Find the entry for System Restore and click on it. Now follow the prompts. Tell it you want to restore to an earlier date, choose a date, and let it copy its files and restart your computer. If this fails, you will need to use you Windows install disk repair option, and if this fails, you will need to reinstall you system. In the future, I suggest you created backups from time to time with an XML backup program, like DIXML, so you have a more certain restoration method.

Answer 5

May need a little more context to answer this question properly. E.G. Was it ever working properly? Have you done anything different recently like install new software? Does your computer have a tendency to overheat? etc.

Short/default answer is to probably format your PC and re-install the OS if you believe it's a software issue

OR

Replace parts if you believe it to be a hardware issue.

Without being able to ask you questions to help troubleshoot it's hard to give a more detailed/definitive answer than that.

Answer 6

Probably your new PC is either having some malfunction in the hardware.Either the hardware installed is not compatiblewith each other or the Soft-wares installed in your system do not actually work properly.You can also try upgrading your system's RAM to about 2 GB or 4 GB if possible.
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**Another reason for this can the virus,Malware or some sort of software that damages the PC registry files.What you can do is either uninstall the soft-wares you installed a few time back and might have caused trouble. If the problem is like freezing when you run some program then the program might not be compatible with your computer.Or there might be some file corrupted in the program.

Answer 7

The first thing to do is the use an anti-virus program, and then defragment the computer. If this is not enough, you may need to consult an expert.