Your PC is freezing. You try to get work done, but your computer keeps freezing. Definitely not an ideal PC issue to have. It could certainly be fixed if you know how to approach it. Lucky, for you, I’m here to point you in the right direction. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a PC expert or have too much PC support experience. This is easy enough for a first-grader to follow…okay maybe a third-grader.
- Unplug everything. Your connected printer, scanner, or other USB-connected device might be failing and causing your computer to sputter. Unplug everything that is connected except for the keyboard and mouse. Any luck?
- Restart. You may have some unresponsive program in the background that needs to be released and exited. You may do so by restarting your computer.
- Cool it down. Is your PC running hot? If it’s a desktop, open up the tower and clear up any dust bunnies and grit. It could be gumming up your processor, causing your system to overheat. If you have a laptop, take some compressed air and blow out the fan area to clear it out.
- Driver fix. I’m not talking about using a designated driver, but fixing up your device driver, such as bad software being used for your wireless device. Right-click Computer and click on Device Manager to go there. Look for any yellow exclamation icons and update it by having it look for new driver software.
- Go back. Do you know that you clicked on something wrong or deleted something critical, but don’t know how to fix it. No worries, go back in time with the System Restore. Go to Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore.
- Bad hard drive? If the above five steps don’t work, you may have a bad hard drive. Find out if you have a failing hard drive by right-clicking your C: drive->Properties->Tools->Check now
These steps should help you find the culprit in regard to why your PC is freezing. If you’re still having difficulty, you may have to escalate your PC freezing issue to a local PC repair shop for further diagnosing and computer repair.
