How can I stop my computer from locking up?

My computer freezes up intermittently. Sometimes I can reboot, which helps, other times nothing helps. My computer is 4 yrs old.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank You,

Joe Maresh

This question was answered on May 4, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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The information you provided regarding your problem is somewhat vague I can still suggest several steps that can help stop your computer from freezing up These suggestions are basic, common steps for this problem, but without more information about your problem, this is the best I can do for now If, after following these steps, you continue to have problems, please submit another question with more details, such as what program(s) are running when your computer freezes, what program you were using at the time, and most important, what you were doing with your computer when it freezes (surfing the Internet, typing in Word, downloading, booting up, etc).

First, I would suggest uninstalling any programs you no longer use This will free up disk space for your operating system You may have to restart several times, depending on what and how much you uninstall If there is no uninstall option in the program, you can go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and remove programs Be careful that you KNOW what you are removing before you remove anything.

After the programs are cleaned up, you should run ScanDisk This can be found in Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools If your hard drive is partitioned, you should run ScanDisk on each partition

The last step is to run Disk Defragmenter This can be found in Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools This should also be run for each partition on your hard drive You will need to close all programs that are running, before running Disk Defragmenter If you have any icons in your system tray, where the time is displayed, right-click each icon & end, disable, quit, or exit each program that is running You should also disable your screensaver, if you have one When you run Disk Defragmenter, keep in mind that it will run for quite some time, so you will not be able to use your computer for awhile (up to several hours) When you're done, of course, you will need to reboot your computer.

For normal every day practice, you should always shut your computer down by going into Start, Shutdown, Shutdown or Restart One more thing to remember also, is that all the Windows 9x operating systems need to be shut down on a regular basis It is good practice to shut your computer down when you go to bed, work, or any other time you are not using it.

You can find more help and information at: www.microsoft.com, in the Searchable Database, which is in the Support area of their site.

About the author

Posted by Debbi of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on May 4, 2002

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