My computer keeps crashing!?

Question

Help! My computer just freezes (especially when ive got more than one thing going at a time). I have to either press ctrl alt delete - or pull out the leads & restart.
Its driving me mad! - Any ideas?

Answer 1

Sounds like you've got too many programs running for the amount of RAM you have. Plus have you checked for spyware, etc?

Uninstall any programs you don;t use, especially those you have on disc.

Delete all files you don't need, burn others to disc and delete them from your pc.

Run Ccleaner to clear out any unwanted registry entries.

Run the disc defragmenter from start - accessories - system tools - defragmenter. Leave it to run.





Then make sure you have a firewall, an anti virus such as Avast, an anti trojan such as Ewido, Ad-Aware SE Personal, and something to protect your Internet Explorer settings to prevent malware getting on your system while you're online.



The Windows firewall doesn't stop malware on your pc from dialling out. Either of these firewalls are free for personal use and stop unwanted incoming and outgoing traffic. You choose which programs are allowed to access the internet. They are both fairly easy to use and updated regularly.

http://www.zonelabs.com Zone Alarm firewall

http://www.kerio.com Kerio firewall



Shields Up security site, check your firewall works

https://www.grc.com



http://www.mozilla.com/ Firefox web browser

http://www.opera.com/ Opera web browser

Instal both these web browsers, turn off javascript on one and use that browser for vising unknown websites. They don't support Active X so thats one less way for problems to get on your pc.



Winpatrol is a handy utility that tracks cookies on your pc and stops unwanted changes to your startup folder.

http://www.winpatrol.com



Spywareblaster works with Internet Explorer and Firefox. It won't uninstall spyware that is already on your pc, but it will prevent hijacks and other malicious changes to your browser.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com



http://www.siteadvisor.com -Site Advisor warns about malware on sites you are about to visit.



http://www.avast.com - Avast Antivirus



http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/ - Trend Micro online virus guide

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ - Trend Micro PCillin online scan



http://www.ewido.net - Ewido anti trojan



Ad-Aware SE Personal anti adware

http://www.lavasoft.com



Spybot Search and Destroy anti spyware

http://www.safer-networking.org



http://spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - The Spyware Warrior site identifies fake anti spyware programs.



http://www.bitdefender.com -BitDefender can be used as a second, on demand anti virus.



http://www.ccleaner.com Cr*pcleaner Registry cleaner and privacy tool



Microsoft have two free online scanners that look for malware.

http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

You can also download Microsofts free Windows Defender from the official Microsoft site, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool.



Remember to update and run all of you anti malware programs at least once a week.

Answer 2

Man that is a very broad question and could have many or even multiple causes:



First I would suggest you defrag your HDD



Start Menu -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter



Leave your PC alone while Defrag is running, do not use it.



Next I would get a program like Registry Mechanic from www.download.com



Install it and goto www.serials.ws to get a serial key



Run this program to clean up your registry



If you havent already, get a few different Anti-Virus scanners and run them each seperately. I would reccomend using Norton/AVG/Avast



Next I would try running a spyware program like NoAdware or Spy Sweeper. www.download.com is the place to start looking for these programs.





If all these don't work it is possible that you have bad RAM. Try buying a stick of new RAM and plugging it in. If it still crashes just take the RAM back.





IF all else fails, you might want to backup your precious information to CD/DVD and then just go ahead and do a format to make sure you clean everything.



Good luck, let me know what happens after you try the defrag/scan

Answer 3

two easy things to check how much ram do you have, I fixed a PC the other week that run very slow, and kept freezing, it only had 128, so i added a 256 and bingo works fine. The other thing is your anti virus many of these much needed items can slow you right down, also check to see how many firewalls you have running, windows has one, have you down loaded another one along with some software.

Good luck

Answer 4

my first thoughts are:



1) how old is ur pc

2)u may have insufficient memory or defragmented files-do a disk cleanup and a defrag analyze

--this is located at Start>Accessories>System Tools



-when you do the defrag analyzation, it will tell you if u need 2 defrag when it is done, if it doesn't, then don't do it.

-for the disk cleanup, clean up any internal (C:) or external hard drive. check all the boxes and click ok.



hope this helps...good luck!

Answer 5

I had that problem last night, don't know what it is i had to many things on too. Only have one thing on tonight and so far hasn't crashed fingers crossed good luck

Answer 6

sarah has done a good job there but I'd add SuperAntiSpyware Free edition to the list of useful tools.



http://www.superantispyware.com/



And the best of the free antivirus solutions out there is AOL's Active Virus Shield



http://www.activevirusshield.com/

Answer 7

If your computer keeps crashing,



you need a better driver.

Answer 8

your comp may freeze becuase youve had it switched on for a long time. so it might be worth switching off and rebooting

Answer 9

get a new computer and when you get it dont put to much junk

Answer 10

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