“What do I do when my computer keeps freezing?” is a common refrain among many PC users. A computer that’s frozen has nothing to do with a sudden drop in temperature. A screen freeze or computer freeze is when your PC goes into a self-imposed lockdown. It can happen right in the middle of a keystroke. Your cursor won’t move or disappears completely off the screen. No amount of tapping on the keyboard releases the screen from the icy grip it’s in. Everything has come to a screeching halt. Your computer is frozen.
When you say to yourself “My computer keeps freezing” you’re really saying “what do I do now?” Unless you have deep pockets and can afford to call in a PC tech, what you do now is perform some troubleshooting procedures to get to the heart of the problem. First, try and reboot. You may even want to unplug your system for a moment plug it back in. Sometimes this can help you “reset” and be able to boot up. While doing so, think about what you were doing when the freeze occurred. This may give you a clue as to what’s going on.
Because you don’t want to be repeating the words “my computer keeps freezing” over and over, now would be a good time run any PC diagnostics software you might have. This software can identify problems and offer suggestions for what to do to fix them. Depending on the problem, the software may even be able to fix the problem for you. For example, it may able to clean the operating system registry of extra, unneeded data. System problems can many times be traced, at least in part, to data that is cluttering up the registry. Spyware has also been known to be behind computer freezes.
Computer freezes are a frustrating and time-consuming fact of the PC life. No question about it. With the right diagnostic tools, you can get to the bottom of what’s going on and take steps to correct it. If you find that you are at a complete loss, there are many places you can turn for help. One of the best would be the online forums on the Internet. This is where you’ll find many people willing to offer their knowledge and save you time trying to figure out the problem on your own. Plus, there’s a high probability that someone on the forum has had the very same problem you’re having and can advise you of the fix you need to get your PC back in the saddle.