What do I do When my Computer Freezes Up?
It doesn’t seem to matter what version of Windows you are running, your computer will eventually freeze or lockup.
A freeze up that happens because software you are using has stopped running can normally be fixed by using what has come to be called
Windows Vista Task Manager
the three finger salute. This is where you hold down the Ctrl+Alt+Delte keys all at once.
Running the three fingered salute on Windows XP will open up a dialog box called the Windows Task Manager. Windows Vista users will be brought to a menu screen and you will select the task manager.
The task manager will open to the applications tab and you will be able to see all the software that is running in the left hand task column and the right column displays the status of your software. You will see a status message of “Not Responding” if your software, also called an application, has stopped working.
To close the software that is not working left click on the task that is not running and click end task. Sometimes you will need to wait a few minutes for the misbehaving application to shut down. Once in awhile you will have to try to end the task a couple of times. You will also lose any data you have not saved when you close down the software in this manner.
You will need to hold down the power button on your computer for at least 8 seconds if the the three finger salute of Ctl+Alt+Delete does not bring up the task manger or give you any response. More bad news here… If you have not saved your work that you had open when the freeze up occured, it will all be lost. You may be able to recover some data from a temporary word or excel file that was running at the time, but usually not.