Has your computer ever been frozen and your just frustrated? Well here is a new way to fix it! Do not, I repeat, do not get a computer dude. Just hit the power button on the control tower and let it reboot. If this doesn't work then it's serious, get a computer dude.
Source: This family tip book! (this is only at my house)!
By Lauren from Clarkston, MI
Editor's Note: Restarting your system like this should be a last resort as it is really hard on the computer and can cause more problems long term. If your computer freezes, grab a cup of coffee and give it 5 minutes to complete its task. You can also force quit individual programs. If you are having lots of problems like this, it is probably time to optimize your hard drive and do other preventative maintenance.
Yup i had to add my 2 cents too. I was having multiple problems with my computer, and here's what i was told to do. Maintain it once a week. aol has a computer check up in computer it automatically runs next. I clean out my cache every time I use computer. It's tools go down to internet options and delete cookies and temporary internet files.
Last but not least i defragment computer about once a week by going into computer setup and running defragmenter It puts files back where they belong. If you have never done this it will take a while, but all of these things are well worth it. I now just pop on "puter" and hardly ever have a problem. All this info was given to me thru gateway tech support, and at first was a little scary but now it's a snap.
If you are forced to do a hard shut-down because your 'puter is hung & you have no other choice, or if this is a regular thing with your computer, it is time to empty all of the unnecessary files (trash bin, etc), do a registry clean, then do a virus scan & after that do a scandisk & defrag. A lot of the time this is all that it takes to get your computer to behave itself. Virus scan, of course, will clean out any viruses or invasive cookies that might have been stored on your computer without your knowledge. A Registry Cleaner will remove any empty folders from your registry that were left behind when you uninstalled something. Scandisk will tell you if anything is missing--usually will find it & put it back in place. And Defrag will reorganize your files & put them back together so your computers brain can find related files more easily. If all of this fails--THEN call the computer guy!
Ctrl + alt + del is a very handy tool. You can end the tasks that are frosen, by highlighting them end pressing "end task." In the process section you can also stop the process that slow your computer. If you practice you will learn which ones you can stop and which ones you can't. It will warn you not to do it, but if you do it anyway, most of the time nothing happens. If something happens, just reboot. When my computer get slow, 90% of the time I can fix it, even if I don't know which process I stop. AG
Dont do this. Its called a hard shut down. Take it from me! I did it a few times for the same reason..once out lazyness.. not wanting to wait for it to shut down normaly. Then all at ones there were problems, like..during reboot windows wouldnt come up, or an error page would pop up constantly. SO I eneded up calling a computer guy anyway. Turns out I lost DLL files... essential for proper running. So avoid the $35 to $100 computer guy, dont just hit the power button to shut down. (hard shut down)
I agree with the Editor when it comes to being VERY careful about hitting the power button. You will not only lose all the data & close all of the programs you have open, but it will also mess around with other things your pc is doing 'in background'.
The best way to deal with 'frozen', or 'locked' screen is this ......
Firstly, hit the 'Control, Alt & Delete' buttons all together. This will bring up several options for you to choose. Select 'Start Task Manager'.
Then, select ONLY the program that is 'frozen' then give it a minute to close down that program.
This allows you to shut down ONLY the program that is 'not responding' (locked up), without losing any data in, or shutting down any of the other programs you are currently working on.
You will then be able to restart the program you were using.
As a Vista user, I have had lots of practice in using this!! In case you can't guess, I HATE Vista as it is such an unstable OS, however, I do love Office 2007.
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