Lesson 52 Frozen PC's
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Let's take a look at frozen and slow PCs.One of the most annoying things about today's PCs and the modern Windows operating system is that, every now and then, Windows has an obnoxious tendency to freeze just as you were doing something important--like saving a Word Document, or about to hit the Send button in your Thunderbird email client. Every user who's used their PC long enough has experienced this frustrating annoyance. So, if this issue is inevitable, what should one do when one is faced with an unresponsive, frozen PC? Let's enumerate a few remedies to resurrect a frozen system. First off, make sure that your PC's really frozen and not just responding really slowly. Sometimes an application or a process running in the background can hog all your CPU's cycles, causing the appearance of being stuck. Wait several minutes to see if your PC responds, as an application may be saving a file, or an important service running in the background may be performing a special CPU-intensive task. It's important that when you first realize that your PC may be frozen that you don't panic and shut down your PC by hitting the power button out of sheer frustration. The most important reason for not doing this is that you may still have files that haven't been saved to disk, and you most certainly don't want to lose any of your precious data. If you believe your PC to be actually frozen solid, then try the following tips below. The Three Finger Salute
Every Windows user should become acquainted with the three finger salute--pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del--which will display the Task Manager. If you suspect a stuck PC, open up the Task Manager, clicking on the Applications tab. Scan the items on the Applications tab and look for any programs that are listed as "Not Responding". If any program is flagged as unresponsive, selecting it and clicking on End Task may fix the situation. After this, navigate on over to the Processes Tab, and scan the list of processes, noting any process that's taking up an abnormal amount of CPU cycles. Hit "End Process" on any process that's taking 100% of your CPU's time.
If you cannot find any suspects in the Applications or Processes tab, select "Turn Off" from the "Shut Down" menu, allowing Windows to shut down cleanly and properly. Chances are, nine times out of ten, when you boot your system back up and everything's cleared out of RAM, this operation will rectify the problem. Is your Mouse and Keyboard Responding?Determine whether your PC is still communicating with your mouse and keyboard. For your mouse, move it around the screen. If your mouse's pointer is stagnant, even after a few moments, then your mouse is down for now. Hit the Caps Lock key on your keyboard and see whether it lights up; if it doesn't, your keyboard is out as well. Before doing a hardware reboot, check if your mouse and keyboard are plugged in properly if they're wired, or, for wireless devices, change their batteries. You may also want to try a different mouse or keyboard as a hardware test, if you have extra ones lying around suitable for this purpose. If all else fails, then your absolute last resort is a hardware reboot. You'll only want to do this when nothing else works, as any work that you've neglected to save will be lost. To do a hardware reboot, press and hold your PC's power button until it shuts off. When you boot up your PC again, you'll experience a longer boot time, for Windows performs various diagnostic tests whenever it isn't cleanly powered down properly. |
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