There aren’t many more frustrating things than a computer freeze.  That’s because they make it impossible to save work.  And they usually happen right in the middle of a giant Word document that hasn’t been autosaved.  Ugh.  Let’s look at some frequent causes and what you can do about it.

You may receive a notice about an illegal operation or you may just get a computer freeze, without warning, or reboot spontaneously.  So, let’s look into some possible causes.

I Dun Changed Something

If you have recently changed anything about your computer, I would suspect that first.  It’s easy to forget about such changes.  Think through it and take some time.  Did you add some software?  Did you put some more Ram memory in?  Speaking of which, I have posted in the past about doing a computer memory test.  Ram memory problems typically will throw a stop error message.  You know, the dreaded blue screen of death.

Another major thing to check is the recent addition of drivers.  Again, take your time and think through what you added recently.  Did you get a new printer, install some USB flash drive software, or some camera drivers.  They are easy to forget about.

Me Loves the Freeware

Freeware is great, but comes with some very big risks.  There are a lot of seemingly reputable sites out there that carry really bad freeware that can cause a computer freeze.  Freeware can carry malware (ie, bad software) bundled in the software.  It can also be really poorly written software.  That alone can wreak havoc on your system.  If you recently installed freeware, delete it.  And make sure to uninstall anything that was bundled into the software.  You may want to reinstall it again and watch what else it tells you it is installing.

I Getz Me Some Peer to Peer

Okay, this is a big one.  If you have Limewire, Frostwire, or any other peer to peer sharing software, you should check into what you downloaded.  A ton of software being passed around on these networks contains viruses, spyware, trojans, etc.  If you don’t have virus protection, I would definitely start with doing a full scan.  By the way, you may not know this, but you can download free virus protection from Avira.  I’ve used it for a year and it’s done a great job.

I Overclock – Everyone’s Doing It

If you are a tinkerer, I would suspect yourself first for your computer freeze problem.  Sorry, but it’s true.  This is especially true of overclockers who push their CPUs to the bleeding edge.  Recheck your CPU heat readings.  If your bios doesn’t support this feature, get an external one.  Then you can do some liquid cooling or some other super nerdy fix.  ;^)

Who’s Spying on Me?

By far one of the biggest contributors to a computer freeze is spyware.  I hate spyware.  I would immediately suspect this if your browser gets redirected constantly.  I would also suspect it if your system runs slower and slower before grinding to a halt.  I will be posting soon about how to get rid of spyware.

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