Avoiding computer freezes at critical business times

Most of us are familiar with the sheer frustration of computer freezes or crashes in the middle of a task. There it hangs, stubbornly ignoring our desperate attempts to open and close windows, quit programs or just get the mouse moving - anything to reveal signs of life. 

Fortunately, computer freezes are usually few and far between, and are easy to fix.

Types of computer freezes

Generally there are two types of ways a computer will crash: 

• all programs are frozen, including the mouse and keyboard
• a single program is frozen.

To determine which type of freeze you're dealing with, here's one simple trick: press the Num Lock button - if the light turns on and off, it's likely to be just a single program that's failing to respond. In this case, hold down CTRL + ALT + DELETE and end the task.

If your whole computer has crashed and you've waited a few minutes to make sure it doesn't correct itself, your best option is to restart. Remember, if you do this you may lose any unsaved changes to documents you've been working on.

Fixing ongoing problems 

What if computer crashes are a recurring event? How do you get to the root of the problem and fix it?

"It's a really broad error," says Craig Cottle from PC Emergency. "It could be your hardware or software; it could be anything. That's pretty tricky; we'd need to take your computer away and see when and how it happens."

To help the investigation process along, Craig recommends the following: 

• Check your computer for viruses: Viruses can account for all manner of computer problems, and computer crashes are no exception. Run a virus scan at least once a week and make sure all your anti-virus software is up to date. 

• Make a note of what you were doing when your computer froze: You may find it only happens when you're running a particular program, like a game. In this case, a software bug, or issues like faulty drivers and video cards, could be the culprit.

• Have you added new hardware? Faulty or mismatched hardware can cause your computer to freeze. If the problem has coincided with the addition of new hardware, remove that hardware device and see if it fixes the problem.

• Defragment your hard drive: Like a spring clean for your computer, this will clean up your system and put everything back where it's supposed to be, allowing the computer to run more efficiently.

Of course, there are countless other causes of computer freezes, so if in doubt, always consult an IT professional to get to the source of the problem and achieve a speedy solution.