HOW TO FIX COMPUTER
SLOWDOWNS AND HANGS
There are many reasons for
slowdowns and hangs of your
computer. For this you have to try
out several solutions and the actual
cause to it. There are some basic
steps that you should perform in
case of slowdowns and hangs.
Moreover you don't require any external software.
Step 1. Free up memory on your
hard drive if your computer is
performing slower than usual. A
hard drive that is near capacity can
cause the computer to significantly
slow down. Delete any files you no
longer use. You also can use the
"Disk Cleanup" utility built into your
computer. To launch this utility,
click "Start," "All Programs,"
"Accessories," "System Tools," and
"Disk Cleanup." A list of files is
presented in a dialog box. Click the
check box next the files you want to
delete and then click the "OK"
button at the bottom of the dialog
box to activate the utility.
Step 2. Observe your computer and
pinpoint a program or combination
of programs that are running when
it freezes. There might be a specific
program responsible for freezing or
crashing your computer. Try
terminating that specific program
and seeing if that fixes the problem.
To terminate a program, click
"CTRL," "ALT," and "DEL" on your
keyboard. This shortcut opens a
window listing the currently running
programs on your computer.
Choose a program and click the
"End Process" button to terminate
the program.
Step 3. Defragment your computer's
files. Fragmented files occur when
parts of a single file are stored in
multiple places on the hard drive.
This causes a computer to perform
slowly because the computer must
search in multiple places when
accessing a fragmented file. To
defragment your computer, click
"Start," "All Programs,"
"Accessories," "System Tools," and
"Disk Defragmenter."
Step 4. Scan your computer for
malicious files. Viruses or spyware
often cause your computer to slow
down or freeze. Use the virus
scanner that is installed on your
computer. If you don't have a virus
scanner installed on your computer,
there are online virus scanners
available. After you have completed
a virus scan, your results are
displayed. The most desirable option
is to delete any viruses or spyware
that was found on your computer.
Follow the virus scanner's prompts
to delete the virus. However, not all
viruses can simply be deleted. In
this case, choose the "Quarantine"
option in the virus scanner. This
places the file in a separate folder
or location on the drive where it
can't affect other files
Step 5. Repair any disk errors. Disk
errors can cause your computer to
slow down and freeze. You can use a
utility on your computer to detect
and fix disk errors. To do this, first
open "My Computer." Right-click on
the hard drive you want to repair
and click "Properties." Click the
"Tools" tab and then click the
"Check Now" button. Select the
check box next to "Scan for and
attempt recovery of bad sectors."
Then click the "Start" button and
the utility detects and repairs bad
sectors.
Step 6. Reboot your computer if
your computer freezes. Hold down
the "Power" button on the
computer for at least five seconds.
Wait for the computer to shut down
and restart the computer. This is
usually a temporary fix, but will at
least unfreeze your computer
Additional Precautions :
Back up the data on your computer
if your computer is slow or freezing
often. To back up data, plug in an
external hard drive or insert a CD
or DVD and copy important files
onto the storage device. You can
simply drag the files from your
computer into the storage device's
folder. You also can use the
Windows backup and restore utility.
Open the backup and restore utility
in Windows from the "Control
Panel" and follow the prompts to
create an entire clone of your hard
drive.
Try not to reboot your computer by
holding down the "Power" button
too often as this can destabilize the
operating system
SLOWDOWNS AND HANGS
There are many reasons for
slowdowns and hangs of your
computer. For this you have to try
out several solutions and the actual
cause to it. There are some basic
steps that you should perform in
case of slowdowns and hangs.
Moreover you don't require any external software.
Step 1. Free up memory on your
hard drive if your computer is
performing slower than usual. A
hard drive that is near capacity can
cause the computer to significantly
slow down. Delete any files you no
longer use. You also can use the
"Disk Cleanup" utility built into your
computer. To launch this utility,
click "Start," "All Programs,"
"Accessories," "System Tools," and
"Disk Cleanup." A list of files is
presented in a dialog box. Click the
check box next the files you want to
delete and then click the "OK"
button at the bottom of the dialog
box to activate the utility.
Step 2. Observe your computer and
pinpoint a program or combination
of programs that are running when
it freezes. There might be a specific
program responsible for freezing or
crashing your computer. Try
terminating that specific program
and seeing if that fixes the problem.
To terminate a program, click
"CTRL," "ALT," and "DEL" on your
keyboard. This shortcut opens a
window listing the currently running
programs on your computer.
Choose a program and click the
"End Process" button to terminate
the program.
Step 3. Defragment your computer's
files. Fragmented files occur when
parts of a single file are stored in
multiple places on the hard drive.
This causes a computer to perform
slowly because the computer must
search in multiple places when
accessing a fragmented file. To
defragment your computer, click
"Start," "All Programs,"
"Accessories," "System Tools," and
"Disk Defragmenter."
Step 4. Scan your computer for
malicious files. Viruses or spyware
often cause your computer to slow
down or freeze. Use the virus
scanner that is installed on your
computer. If you don't have a virus
scanner installed on your computer,
there are online virus scanners
available. After you have completed
a virus scan, your results are
displayed. The most desirable option
is to delete any viruses or spyware
that was found on your computer.
Follow the virus scanner's prompts
to delete the virus. However, not all
viruses can simply be deleted. In
this case, choose the "Quarantine"
option in the virus scanner. This
places the file in a separate folder
or location on the drive where it
can't affect other files
Step 5. Repair any disk errors. Disk
errors can cause your computer to
slow down and freeze. You can use a
utility on your computer to detect
and fix disk errors. To do this, first
open "My Computer." Right-click on
the hard drive you want to repair
and click "Properties." Click the
"Tools" tab and then click the
"Check Now" button. Select the
check box next to "Scan for and
attempt recovery of bad sectors."
Then click the "Start" button and
the utility detects and repairs bad
sectors.
Step 6. Reboot your computer if
your computer freezes. Hold down
the "Power" button on the
computer for at least five seconds.
Wait for the computer to shut down
and restart the computer. This is
usually a temporary fix, but will at
least unfreeze your computer
Additional Precautions :
Back up the data on your computer
if your computer is slow or freezing
often. To back up data, plug in an
external hard drive or insert a CD
or DVD and copy important files
onto the storage device. You can
simply drag the files from your
computer into the storage device's
folder. You also can use the
Windows backup and restore utility.
Open the backup and restore utility
in Windows from the "Control
Panel" and follow the prompts to
create an entire clone of your hard
drive.
Try not to reboot your computer by
holding down the "Power" button
too often as this can destabilize the
operating system
