Everyone’s seen it… You are surfing the web or working on a project for work when…. Everything Freezes up! AAAAARRRRGGGG… (no, this isnt an ad for Geek Squad!).
What caused it? Spyware? Virus? Cheese? It’s really hard to tell. Lots of things can cause the dreaded “Freeze”. After cursing furiously, you reboot and continue your work..(if you were a good boy/girl and actually saved it!?) But what caused it????
When this starts happening, think about what may have changed lately.. Did you:
- Install a new program?
- Remove and old program?
- Click a mysterious Pop-Up?
- Add a new piece of hardware?
- Upgrade your memory?
If you just installed a new program, go to the publisher’s website to see if there are any known problems. If so, maybe there is a patch you could download and install.
Removed an old program? Did you use the Uninstall or just delete it? Make sure and use the “Add/Remove Programs” from the control panel.. If the program has a removal it will start it for you.
Clicked a Pop-up?… SHAME ON YOU! Don’t do that!! In that case you may have a piece of spyware or virus.. Download(and install) <a href=”http://www.lavasoft.com/”>AdAware</a>, <a href=”http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html”>Spy-Bot Search and Destroy</a>, <a href=”http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php”>HiJack This</a>, or your favorite spyware removal tool… If you don’t know any others just go to <a href=”http://www.download.com”>C|Net’s Download.com</a> and do a quick search.
Also, a good virus scan would not be out of the question either… If you have a virus on your computer chances are it may try a disable your installed antivirus. So, try scanning from <a href=”http://housecall.trendmicro.com/”>TrendMicro’s Housecall</a>. They have a free online scan that works really well for identifying and removing spyware and viruses.
Just add some new hardware? Remove it and see if the “Freeze” happens again. If that fixes it, Check the manufacturer’s site for the latest driver.
Added Memory? You may have a bad RAM chip… Doesn’t happen a lot but Microsoft has a free utility that you can <a href=”http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp”>Download</a> that will scan your RAM for errors. This tool seems to work really well. The file is very small (640k). The file will allow you to create a boot disk or an ISO to create a bootable CD. Reboot the computer with the new media in the drive and it will begin a series of tests that will help you determine if you RAM is good or Bad.
Running scandisk and defrag are always good ideas as well.
These are just a few things that may help your “Freeze” woes. Maybe, this could save you some lost hair or a trip to the “couch doctor”???
© 2007 – 2009, Robert Owen. All rights reserved.
