Quiet often data becomes fragmented. Thus it can be a good idea to defragment the hard disk maybe every few weeks; or even once a month to prevent the Hdd from freezing your computer.
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Go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.
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Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are over burden. Get into a regular pattern of housekeeping your Hdd every few months and free some space on it.
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Tip! Open the Windows folder on the C:\ drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free space.
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Simply empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space.
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Your Hdd should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors.
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Go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk
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Fatal OE / VXD Exceptions.These are often caused by graphics card problems..
These can be resolved by reducing the resolution of your video display..
Go to Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, Display, Settings.Slide the screen area bar to the left. Glance at the color settings on the left. High color 16-bit depth is acceptable..
If your computer is freezing often it could be due to your graphics card.
Double check there are no hardware conflicts.. Go to Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager,.Select the + next to Display Adapter.
A description of your video card should appear. Highlight it and select Properties. Go to Resources and select each line in the window, looking for a message that says No Conflicts..
The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button.
Then search for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message..
Another useful way to resolve video problems is;.
Go to Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, System, Performance, Graphics -.Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left..
By far the most common cause of graphics card problems are obselete or faulty drivers.
Look up your graphics card's manufacturer on the internet and download for the most recent driver for model..
Viruses.
If you do not have a Windows start-up Disk on hand, Get one.
Some Viruses attack the boot sector of your hard drive, making it impossible to start.
Nowdays you can use the Windows Operating system Cd that came with your system, but if your oldschool and still have a 3.5" floppy drive, you can create your own start up Disk..
Go to Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, Add / Remove, Start-up Disk, Create Disk..
Im not going to go into specifics as it's pretty obvious, but you should have some form of Virus protection installed, just be very vigilant and always update your virus signatures; they are installed in a *.DAT file. Your *.DAT files should be updated periodically from your antivirus software website..
Overheating.
Central processing units (CPUs) are equipped with electric cooling fans. If the fan stops or is starting to make a whining noise (ball bearings dying) it may start to overheat and generate a kernel error.
This is a quiet common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they have been designed for..
One solution is to upgrade the fan / heatsink. Another is too simply vaccum / blow out with compressed air the copious amounts of dust clogging the case vents, heatsink fins & motherboard..
CPU problems can be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will reduce performance slightly, but increase stability..
Don't be afraid of cracking open your PC case, its not very difficult usually only 3 or 4 phillips head screws need to be undone to remove the side panel of a tower, or the top of a desktop machine..
Printers.
This ones right out of left field, so I thought Id include it, The action of sending a document to a printer generates a larger data file, often called a postscript file. Generally speaking Printers usually only have a select small amount of memory called the buffer, which can be overloaded by the post script. Printing a large document will also use a decent chunk of CPU power, slowing down overall PC performance.
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Anything unusual throughout your document e.g. new fonts, characters or intricate diagrams, may confuse the printer, causing your PC to crash. The easiest method in solving these frustrating episodes, can be to clear the buffer by simply pulling the plug on the printer for ten seconds.
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So there! 5 potential reasons why your computer is crashing, and what too look out for in the future to prevent these frustrating freezes.
