What to Do When Your Computer Freezes: A Quick Guide

In the business world, computers are replaced every 3 to 5 years. If you’ve got a personal computer, then there’s a very good chance yours will last longer. However, as your PC gets older, it’ll run less and less smoothly. It might take a while to boot up, or even worse, it might freeze up! If your computer freezes, it can be scary. Not only will you potentially lose all your files, but you might have to buy a new PC as well!

But before you panic, take a deep breath. Here’s what to do before you run out and replace your computer.

Give It a Few Minutes

If your computer freezes randomly, don’t just rush to shut it down and reboot right away. Instead, wait a few minutes to see if it’ll unfreeze itself.

Sometimes, a process might use up lots of resources, so your computer will freeze while it’s getting this task done. This is especially true if you have an old computer, as it won’t be running optimally.

If your computer does respond after you wait a few minutes, you’ll want to go through your computer and free up some space and close down unused programs. That way, it won’t have to work as hard at processing tasks.

For example, if your computer freezes on startup, you might have too many startup programs. You’ll want to go through the list and keep only those that are essential.

Check if Your Computer’s Deadlocked

A computer deadlock is when 2 programs prevent each other from accessing resources on your device. As a result, both of them stop functioning and make your computer freeze.

To see if your computer’s deadlocked, press your caps lock button a few times. If the LED light on your keyboard doesn’t turn off and on, then this means your computer’s deadlocked.

In the case of a deadlock, you’ll have no choice but to restart your computer. In this case, press the power button to turn it off, then again to reboot.

See if There’s an Unresponsive Program

Have you pressed the caps lock key and the LED light turned off and on? Then the good news is, your computer isn’t deadlocked!

In this case, you’ll want to check if there’s an unresponsive program. This can happen if your computer isn’t optimized or the software wasn’t written well.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and this will open up your Windows Task Manager. From here, you’ll see the Processes tab by default.

If there’s an unresponsive program, it’ll appear at the very top and the second column of Status will say “not responding”. Click on that program and then select End Task. Do note that it can take up to 20 seconds for the program to shut down, so give it a little time if your computer’s still frozen.

Once the program’s closed, your computer should return to normal.

Check Your Browser

Sometimes, what’s causing the freeze isn’t a program, but rather, a tab in your browser. This is thanks to an improperly coded website, which can then get stuck in an infinite loop for loading. Or it might be incompatible extensions you’ve downloaded.

To see if this is your issue, go into your browser’s task manager. If you use Chrome or Edge, press Shift+Esc. For Firefox users, you’ll have to go to More Tools and then Task Manager.

In the Task Manager, you’ll be able to see which tabs or extensions are using an excessive amount of resources. It’ll also tell you which things are freezing. Try closing out these pages and extensions and see if your computer stops freezing.

For extensions, you might want to keep them disabled if that helps your computer run smoothly. Either uninstall and find a better extension or keep an eye on new versions to see if they’re more compatible.

Do an Antivirus Scan

It won’t hurt to do an antivirus scan, especially if you haven’t run one in a while. You never know if a piece of malware is causing your computer to freeze up!

You should also use something like Malwarebytes to be extra sure there are no bad files lurking around.

Have an Expert Look at It

There’s only so much you can do at home on your own. If you’ve tried everything above, but your computer keeps freezing, then it’s time to have a professional technician look at it.

Our staff will be able to carefully examine your computer and find out exactly what’s wrong with it. Not only that, but we source only high-quality parts for our clients.

Most importantly, we have fast turnaround times. We understand how important your computer is to your daily life so we’ll get it back in your hands in a flash. Most of our computer repairs take 2 to 4 hours, so you can go run errands while we get you back up and running.

Best of all is, we offer lifetime warranties on all of our labor and parts. You can count on us to fix your computer freezes!

Combat Computer Freezes

Computer freezes can be annoying and scary. Not only do you lose work you’ve done, but there’s also a chance that your PC’s done for, permanently.

However, there are several steps to take before you write off your computer for good. And by having an expert take a look at it, you just might be able to save your device.

In the worst-case scenario, you’ll have to replace your computer. But hopefully, you’ll at least have your data backed up so you don’t have to start over completely from scratch.

If you’ve tried everything above and need a new computer still, then check out our inventory. We’ve also got smartphones if you need one!