10 Reasons Why Your Computer Freezes

My-computer-keeps-freezing / system freezing is one of the more frustrating issues that many computer users face today. If you’d like to know why this is occurring on your system, then you’ve come to the right place. This article will be tackling 10 of the most common reasons.

When you find that your computer is constantly hanging or freezing, this is a strong indication that there is something wrong with your computer. Not only can such an incident interrupt whatever you’re doing on your system at the time, but it can also result in you losing data in some cases, corrupting whatever you’re working on. This could be a word document or something similar. For this reason alone, you’ll want to look at the various ways that you can properly put this issue to bed.

Thus, in order to properly tackle this problem, you must first be able to identify the actual cause. Below we have unveiled 10 of them.

1. System Too Hot

If your systems temperature rises too high, then it can lead to a multitude of issues, namely, freezing. There are many different components that contribute to the overall build of your system. It’s possible that your processor is overheating, maybe because of a damaged heatsink and/or fan. If you hear any unusual noises coming from the CPU, it’s possible something is damaged. You can easily resolve this, by purchasing a new heatsink fan.

Depending on how old your system is, your system’s bios should be able to determine whether or not a component, such as your RAM or CPU is running hotter than it should, and notify you.

2. Too Many Apps Running

Any application that you start up on your system will take up a certain amount of resources, whether it be hard drive space or system RAM. This is something you need to be aware of, when running programs on your computer. You have a finite amount of both RAM, hard drive space and CPU resources, and all of these things are consumed by each and every program that you run. So consider limiting this, especially if your system freezing is tied directly to it.

3. Operating System Issues

If you want your system to run optimally at all times, then you’ll need to ensure it is kept up-to-date. If you want access to all the latest updates for your operating system, then you’ll need to ensure it’s legitimate. Illegitimate copies of Windows are barred from updates, which is one of the main drawbacks of using one. If you’re on a Windows 10 system, then it should already be configured to update automatically. For Windows 10 Home users, this option is always switched to on.

In the event that you lose any data after an update, there are data recovery tools that you can use to restore whatever you may have lost. In other situations, you may be able to revert changes, to recovery your data.

4. Hard Drive Issue

If you hear clicking sounds, whenever you’re using your system, this is a strong indication that there is something wrong with your hard drive. There are several options that you can take to resolve this issue. But the recommended one is to purchase a new hard drive, and copy all the data over to it. The sooner you do this the better, as clicking sounds are indications of an imminent hard drive failure.

5. Virus or Malware

One of the most notable and common threats one may experience online are viruses and malware. This can cause a multitude of problems for your system, such as performance degradation, damaged Windows features and components, and much more. Thus, if your system was to get infected with a virus, it’s very possible that it too, could start to freeze.

6. BIOS Settings

Sometimes, changes made to the PC via the BIOS, can cause the system to hang, freeze and crash. If you overclocked your RAM or CPU through the BIOS, it can lead to instability issues. To resolve this problem, simply reset you’re BIOS back to its default settings, and everything should immediately start to function correctly.

7. Power Problems

One of the most important components of any computer system is the power supply unit. Even if you’ve purchased all the latest components, whether it be a motherboard, CPU, RAM, SSD, if you do not have insufficient power, it can result in a plethora of system issues. System freezing can sometimes be as a result of either a failing or insufficient power supply unit. So be sure to go out and purchase the highest quality PSU on the market, never go cheap with this component. Additionally, you could use a UPS, to minimise any potential risks to the PSU.

8. Driver Problems

Your system can start to develop symptoms like random freezing when the drivers for one or more of your components is incompatible with the program(s) installed on your system. To rectify this problem, you need only update everything. Typically, you’ll want to be constantly updating your video card drivers, at the very least.

9. Insufficient RAM

If you find that your system is constantly freezing while using it, it’s possible it’s due to having insufficient RAM installed on your computer. Every operating system has a recommended minimum amount of RAM you should have installed, for the OS to run optimally. Depending on the program you’re running, some require more resources than others. For example, video games will consume almost all of your immediate resources, so it’s important that you close every other application before you run them. You also want to ensure your system meets the recommended specifications for the game.

In other situations, it’s possible that there could be an issue with the memory modules themselves. They could be faulty or physically damaged. In either case, you may need to either upgrade (meaning, add more memory), or replace the RAM with new ones entirely.

10. Improper External Device Connection

An external device is essentially anything that you connect to your system. So that is your keyboard, mouse, external hard drive, gaming pad and much. When you connect one of these devices to your system, whether it’s through your USB port or some other port, if anything unexpected were to occur, it could result in your system freezing, or in more severe cases, it could force your system to shut down altogether.

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–AUTHOR INFO—

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support website Compuchenna.co.uk