Mysterious pc problem

[Stella]

My computer froze last night. I was on here then clicked on the little house symbol at the top to go back to my homepage, got there, then clicked on 'Favourites' as I wanted to google, but my Favourites list refused to drop down. Nothing would move on my screen at all and I had to resort to switching off by using the button on the tower. Anyone know what caused this to happen. The pc was back to normal this morning.

[KiteRunner]

Were you unable to do CTRL-ALT-DEL to see what was running and to close down some tasks? Normally if that happens on my PC I think it is because the memory is being overloaded with too many tasks and some have to be shut down, or just one of the tasks is "not responding" in which case usually you can close it down using CTRL-ALT-DEL. If it happens a few times then I would do a scan disk and then a disk defrag to see if that sorts it out.

[Stella]

Yes Kite, did Ctrl Alt Delete, but even doing that didn't help. Just wondered what caused it as I've never had it happen before. Did a disk defrag last week, also a disk scan. I will do a virus scan if it happens again, just to be safe. Thanks for your advice.

[Kath nr the Crooked Spire]

Stella my pc freezes so often that I dont worry about it much now...sometimes I think it can be the tasks I give it or, the sites I am using, its usually fine if I restart.

[MTA]

Would seem that your 'poota is running low on memory. Have a read of this;

What Is PC Screen Freeze?

Anybody who has used a computer that runs on Windows would know and understand that there would be a point of time where your computer just freezes and everything stops moving. Basically, your computer just becomes immobile and there is nothing you can do but to stare back at the frozen screen. So what do you do now after you experience such a situation?

The only possible thing to do other than to switch off the power switch would be to be patient and wait to see if there is any change after a while. Sometimes, a freeze is just temporal and your computer will function normally after awhile. If not, there is not other choice but to execute plan B, which is to switch off the main power.

What Causes PC Screen Freeze?

One of the most well-known causes of a screen freeze is that your machine is using up every single bit of its RAM memory at that point of time. Thus without any free memory, your computer is practically running on nothing, thus it will be ‘immobilized’ some RAM has been freed up for your computer to function normally again. Just bear in mind that besides the programs you run, there are actually lots more behind the scenes that are working to ensure that whatever you are running can be run. Thus it may actually be running on its maximum amount RAM when it does not even look like it is.

Besides this, running multiple programs all at once can also be another cause for a screen freeze. Like what was mentioned previously, your RAM is used up but not by the programs that are working behind the scenes, this time round it is the programs you are running that cause the freeze. The sheer volume of programs run at the same timing can cause your computer to hit maximum RAM and without a doubt you will be seeing a frozen screen before long.

Other causes of a frozen screen might be because there is a fault in your Windows registry or maybe there is a system fault that is actually causing your screen to freeze. In most cases, if your computer is not functioning at maximum RAM, this is next most probable cause for a frozen screen.

Last but not least, the worst case which causes your computer to freeze up is because of a virus in its system. If the cause of your problem is really a virus that is in your computer system, there is little chance that you can actually view this article right now unless through another computer. In such scenarios, the problem is very likely to be terminal and there is not much chance for you to salvage it. Chances are that either you have to entirely reformat your computer or if you are willing to spend, you can always get a better computer, but remember to download some anti-virus programs this time round or else what you will see is déjà vu happening all over again.

And this from Dell:

Note:

A specific type of lockup can occur if you are running more than one antivirus program. If your computer is locking up and you are running more than one antivirus program, refer to Dell Knowledge Base article: "Multiple Anti-Virus Programs May Cause System Lockup" Article ID: 286481

Good luck.

[Stella]

Thanks for all that info MTA. It's not a virus, I have checked. My computer has been OK since this happened - so fingers crossed, but thanks for all the information, will keep a copy of it all. Cheers.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Mine freezes sometimes where IE is overloaded. I normally get a message at the very top of the page saying IE is not responding.