| How familiar does the following sound? Your | | | | free hard drive space. |
| computer was working fine, but then suddenly | | | | |
| started locking up (aka hanging or freezing), | | | | When no viruses are found, check out free |
| rebooting itself (crashing) or shutting down | | | | hard drive space on drive C:. Make sure there |
| spontaneously? If you know only too well what | | | | is more than 20% of free space available; low |
| I am talking about, then read on! Performing | | | | disk space can lead to random lockups.5. |
| the simple steps below can fix the majority | | | | Check for overheating. |
| of lockup cases.1. Check for recently | | | | |
| installed software or hardware. | | | | Overheating is another known cause of |
| | | | lockups. It can be caused by problems with |
| If the lockups started to happen after you | | | | fans inside the case, dust buildup, or other |
| installed a new peace of hardware, new | | | | cooling problems. Make sure the power supply |
| software program, or new drivers, uninstall | | | | fan and CPU fan are running and free of dust |
| it and see if the problem goes away.2. Run | | | | buildup. You can check the temperatures |
| your antivirus program. | | | | inside the case by running Motherboard |
| | | | monitor |
| One of the first things to do in the case of | | | | |
| sudden lockups is to run your antivirus | | | | |
| program. Check your antivirus manufacturer's | | | | |
| website for updates and latest virus | | | | - make sure the temperatures are within the |
| definition files. (This is absolutely | | | | preset limits. Be very careful while cleaning |
| necessary, outdated antivirus is not going to | | | | inside the computer case (use plastic vacuum |
| be of any use!) If you don't have antivirus | | | | crevice tool) and NEVER OPEN THE POWER SUPPLY |
| software installed - or if updates are | | | | CASE as it contains high voltage.6. Check the |
| unavailable - run one of the web-based | | | | hard disk. |
| antivirus scans that some major antivirus | | | | |
| vendors like Trend Micro are offering for | | | | Check the hard disk - it is possible that |
| free. You can find a comprehensive list of | | | | its logical structure is corrupted. To check |
| available web-based scans and free antivirus | | | | the disk for errors, right-click on the disk |
| programs on Run some good spyware removal | | | | C: icon in "My Computer", select the "Tools" |
| tool. | | | | tab, check all check boxes in the "Check disk |
| | | | options" field, and press the "Check now" |
| If your machine is not infected with any | | | | button. It should ask whether you want to |
| viruses, it is still possible that it has | | | | schedule the check next time you restart your |
| some harmful adware or spyware is present. | | | | computer - answer "Yes" and restart your PC. |
| Download and run some good spyware removal | | | | The check will be performed automatically |
| tool such as AdAware or Microsoft | | | | after startup; it can take a while, so be |
| AntiSpyware. Check for a list of free | | | | patient. |
| spyware removal applications.4. Check for | | | | |