Wednesday, May 27, 2009

3 Easy Ways to Stop Your Computer Crashing

Computers are great when they are running smoothly and quickly. However, when they start to get problems, they become one of the biggest headaches you can get. The biggest problem is actually when your computer crashes, as you can lose unsaved work and unsaved games in the blink of an eye. Computer crashes are nothing new, they've been around ever since the first computer was created back in the 1940's. Back then, a 'bug' was literally when a moth got caught in the room-sized machine, but now, computer crashes happen for numerous reasons...

When your computer crashes (freezes or just restarts), it's because it's reached a dead end. A crash is literally when your computer needs to do something, but it can't because of a problem. If the computer could get round the problem, it would simply raise an error. But if it can't see a way round the problem, it simply has to crash. This type of behavior has plagued computer users for many years, but there are actually some easy ways to fix it:

1) Uninstall troublesome programs

Some programs just don't work very well with your PC. They might have corrupt files, or just aren't compatible. If your computer crashes when you try and load a certain program, or when you are using a certain program, then you should try uninstalling it. You can do this by clicking on START > CONTROL PANEL > ADD / REMOVE PROGRAMS. You can then scroll down the list and click "uninstall" by the troublesome application.

2) Defragment your hard drive

Defragmentation is a common Windows feature. Basically, it's where your computer takes all your hard drive files and makes them into whole files again. When you store any sort of file on your hard drive, Windows automatically assigns a certain "location" for it (these locations are technically known as 'sectors'). The problem is that sometimes, the sectors Windows wants to use are already taken up. This makes your computer split files down the middle, putting half in the place where it's meant to go, and the other half in another sector.

This is bad, because it actually scatters your files all over your hard drive. It not only slows your PC down, but it can also cause it to crash. To fix this, you just need to use the on board "DISK DEFRAG" tool, which comes with all versions of Windows. To use this, you just need to click on START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > DISK DEFRAGMENTER. When you're on that, then just follow the on-screen instructions.

3) Clean Out Your System's Registry

There's also another culprit, which is likely responsible for a crashing computer. The registry is the central database which Windows stores all your settings & system files. It uses this database constantly, and is the core part of your system. It's vitally important, but the files inside it often become corrupted or lost. This means that when Windows needs them, it has to spend more time trying to find them, which slows your computer down. However, if the file is actually vital for your system, it can make your computer crash.

Luckily, there are tools known as 'registry cleaners' which fix this problem. From our experience, the best registry cleaner is one called RegCure

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