Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

Let’s face it. We’ve all been in the situation when you are doing something really important on a work or school project, and then it happens – your computer freezes. Your PC turns useless and you’ve lost all the information and progress on your projects.

Let’s first discover why computer freezes happen.

  • Every program that is running on your PC takes resources. If multiple programs are running in the background there is a high chance that your computer does not have enough memory or computing power to support all of them.

    What you can do is stop some of the programs that are running. You need to press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open the Task Manager. After that select the programs that you are not currently using and click END TASK

    Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

    Your other option is to use Revo Uninstaller Pro 4

    Open Revo Uninstaller Pro. Navigate to Windows tools. Double click on Resource monitor and see which process takes most of your resources. If you see a program that you are not using, you can right-click on it and select “End Process”

    Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

  • If your computer freezes regularly, maybe your computer has insufficient RAM. If your RAM is not enough your computer performance can also be slowed down. We’ve covered the topic of how you can prevent that here

  • There is a chance that if you modified your BIOS settings it can trigger computer freezes.

  • Computer viruses can also be a reason why your computer freezes. They can corrupt your system and make your computer unusable.

  • Windows 10, Windows 7, or any other Microsoft operating system will freeze when there is a corrupted or missing system file.

  • In some cases, software products cause computer freezes. The reason behind this is that they try to use resources that Windows does not give access to. Another reason is that there is a bug in the program. There is also a chance that they are using too many resources and your system struggles to run them. To fix the issue you need to constantly update all the software products on your computer. In case you are not using them you can remove them completely with products like Revo Uninstaller Pro 4. We’ve covered the topic of how to completely uninstall a program that you are not using here

  • The role of your computer drivers is to communicate between the hardware devices and the operating system. If they are outdated or they are corrupt, there is a high chance that you will experience random computer freezes.

  • If your computer operating temperature is high you can experience PC slowdown and eventually computer freezes. If you do not check your computer components’ temperature, they can get irreversibly damaged.

  • There are cases where an external USB drive or an external device such as a mouse or a keyboard can cause computer freezes. You can troubleshoot the problem by connecting them one by one and checking which devices are creating the issue.

After we covered most of the reasons behind computer freezes, let’s see what we can do to fix them.

How to fix computer freezing

  • There are cases where your browser can get stuck on a specific page. Because most of the current PC users are using browsers heavily it can feel that your computer freezes, but it is a single browser page. You can open Windows task manager, but it will only tell you that your browser is not responding and you need to end the process. If you want you can dig deeper by opening the browser Task Manager.

    In Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge you just need to press SHIFT + Esc to open the browser task manager. In Firefox you need to click the menu button and go to More > Task Manager. By opening the browser task manager you will know what processes are running and what can be the reason behind the page freeze.

  • If you can’t discover the problem behind your computer freezing, you need to do some extra troubleshooting. You can use Windows 10 Reliability Monitor. To access it open Control Panel > System and Security > Security and Maintenance > Reliability Monitor.

    Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

    When you open this tool you will see a graph with your PC’s reliability over time. You can also find crash logs and other issues, updates, and newly installed applications. If you see an error on the graph that appeared at the same time when your computer froze, you will have the option to view some technical details or to check Microsoft’s database for a solution. You can also Google the error codes and read more about the problem.

    On the graph, you can see what event triggered the freeze. If it is connected with a new system update you can use System Restore to bring back your system to a previous state before this update was installed.

  • Although System Restore can fix a lot of issues, it can’t always help a specific situation. For example, if you’ve upgraded your CPU, GPU, or any other computer component and installed new drivers you can experience computer freezes due to faulty drivers or maybe something went wrong with their installation.

    You need to uninstall the current drivers, download the newest ones released and install them again.

  • If you experience computer freezes the issue can be in a failing RAM stick. You can run some tests to see if that is the issue.

    Open the Start Menu and type Windows Memory Diagnostic to get access to the tool. Your computer will reboot and test your memory, notifying you if it finds any issues.

  • If your hard drive has faulty sectors and it is failing, it can cause you a lot of issues. We recommend scanning your Hard Drive for any issues. There are free tools such as CrystalDiskInfo that will give you information if you have any problems with your HDD.

  • After you experience computer freeze it can be followed by a Blue Screen of Death. This shouldn’t scare you, because it can give you some extra information about why this happened in the first place. The QR code and “Stop Code” that you will see are good starting points for your investigation.

  • If you are running a CPU-heavy program, there is a chance that your computer can’t keep up with the intensive tasks. You try to click a button or even perform a simple task like closing a window and it will feel like your computer is frozen even though it is not. Give your CPU a minute to catch up with all the tasks it is struggling with.

  • If your computer still freezes after several minutes of waiting and your PC is not used you need to resort to a hard reset.

    You need to press and hold the PC’s power button until it shuts down. After that, you can press it again to boot the system back up from scratch.

  • In some cases software products use a lot of resources that can cause computer freeze. To check how your PC resources are used you need to open Windows Task Manager by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + Esc.

    If you see that your PC freezes when a specific program is running, you may need to uninstall it. You can use tools such as Revo Uninstaller Pro 4 to completely erase all the files that the program installation comes with.

  • Your computer system can experience glitches due to malware that is present on your PC. There are many free malware scanners such as Malwarebytes, scan your PC and check if it is infected.

What if every solution fails and you computer keeps freezing?

By using products such as Revo Uninstaller Pro 4, CrystalDiskInfo, Malwarebytes or any other diagnostics tool can bring you closer to a solution to why your computer freezes.

If you can’t solve your computer freeze issues, you are probably facing a hardware problem that is not so easy to fix. If your PC is still under warranty, contact the manufacturer to solve the issue and repair your computer. If some of your hardware components are failing after their tests, they will probably replace them for free.

If your laptop has started to slow down or if it keeps freezing when you are in the middle of something important, it can pose a huge problem to your productivity and image, especially when you are in an important meeting or getting some critical work done. However, that does not necessarily mean that it’s time to upgrade to a new laptop. It definitely means that your laptop needs some attention. Be it a Dell laptop, an HP laptop, or a Lenovo laptop, one of the most common questions asked by laptop users is, “Why does my laptop keep hanging?” This is a common issue with most laptops, whether it is running Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or even macOS.

In this article, we will help you in knowing the most common reasons why laptops hang or freeze, and we will also show you how you can solve those common laptop issues. We have limited this article to only include laptops that run Microsoft’s Windows operating systems.

5 Most Common Ways To Fix Hanging Laptops

1. Close Unwanted Apps & Services Running In The Background

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

This is the first thing you should try the next time your laptop hangs. We’re sure, most of us are already aware of it, but how many of us remember to do this when the laptop hangs? Once you click the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys simultaneously on your laptop’s keyboard, you will see the Windows Task Manager window pop up. All you need to do is, check which programs are consuming the most CPU and RAM resources. If you find any program that is unwanted and is eating up a lot of laptop computing resources, click on it and then click on the ‘End Task’ button.

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Once all unwanted programs and unwanted background processes are identified and closed, your problem should be solved and the laptop should start behaving as it should. If it doesn’t help, you may have to forcefully shut down your device by holding the ‘Power’ button for a few seconds and then restart it. Do not forget to save the document you are working on so that you don’t lose critical data.

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

If you do not install the operating system updates on time, your laptop may fail to function smoothly. It is advisable to always run a legal copy of Microsoft Windows to be able to download updates as soon as they are released. If you are using Windows 10, the update option is automatically turned on. In most cases, automatic updates and the latest drivers are available online.

To update your software through Windows, follow the steps below:

How To Install Operating System Update On Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Click the System and Security option. Next, click on the Windows Update option.
  3. Windows Update will check for any available updates for your laptop. If there are any new updates found, you will be able to see the available updates. (We recommend installing all the important updates first).

How To Install Operating System Update On Windows 10

  1. Open Settings
  2. Click on Update & Security
  3. Click on Windows Update
  4. Click the Check for updates button
  5. Click the Restart Now button after the update has been downloaded on your device.

3. Use A Cooling Pad To Prevent Laptop Overheating

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

Laptops may also slow down when their processor doesn’t function at optimal clock speeds, and that might happen when the laptop heats up and the processor has to lower its clock speed in order to maintain safe operating temperatures. This issue is called performance throttling. When a laptop overheats, its fans work in full swing, and you might hear unusually loud sounds generated by the cooling fan inside the laptop. This is a good sign that your laptop is overheating.

To stop performance throttling, you need to make sure that your laptop is efficiently dissipating heat generated in its internals. Moreover, you also need to make sure that dust isn’t blocking exhausts and air vents from where the laptop pushes our hot air. Clogged air vents can pose a big problem.

The best way to avoid laptop overheating is to use a cooling pad. Laptop coolers are meant to provide additional cooling. Fans inside the laptop cooling pad suck in hot air from the laptop’s air exhaust vents and extract hot air outside. This helps the laptop in staying cool. Also, always keep the laptop on a hard or flat surface so that hot air can exit easily. Uneven and soft surfaces like a blanket, pillow or your lap obstruct the laptop’s airflow.

Sometimes, the laptop’s CPU can’t dissipate heat efficiently because the thermal paste (also known as thermal compound) has worn off. The thermal compound helps heat transfer from the CPU or the GPU to the heat sink. If the thermal paste has worn off, you need to visit an authorised or trusted laptop service engineer and get them to re-apply high-quality thermal paste.

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

If your laptop has been constantly freezing, insufficient RAM could also be a reason. It is necessary to have enough RAM to keep the system running smoothly. This makes sure that all the programs that you run simultaneously can stay in RAM concurrently.

If you run multiple heavy apps (like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, AutoCAD, or Visual Studio) at once or open a lot of heavy files at the same time, your laptop may get hung if it doesn’t have enough RAM to load all those apps or files. You may either have to upgrade to a laptop with a higher RAM configuration or upgrade your existing laptop to add more RAM (provided that it supports RAM upgrades).

One of the easiest ways to find out if the laptop has a RAM issue is – when you first turn on your device and it runs perfectly fine but in a few hours the laptop begins to slow down, files take too long to open, and websites fail to load quickly. This can be due to insufficient RAM. Apart from this, if you notice that your laptop constantly keeps restarting, this is also a clear indication of faulty RAM.

5. Faulty Hard Drive Could Be Slowing Down Your Laptop As Well

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

Most modern mid-range and high-end laptops now feature SSDs (Solid State Drives). However, older laptops and some modern entry-level laptops still use HDDs (Hard Disk Drives). If your laptop uses a hard disk drive and if you notice an unusual clicking sound every time you turn the laptop on, this is an indication that something is wrong with the hard disk drive. Do not take this lightly!

In case there is a serious issue with the hard drive and it crashes, you can lose important data due to hard disk drive malfunction. This is why we recommend saving all your important documents and files on an external hard drive as well so that you don’t lose important files. It’s a good routine to back up important files before it’s too late.

Just to be sure if the hard drive has really malfunctioned, you can open File Explorer on your laptop and follow these steps:

  1. Click the Windows button on the bottom left and search for File Explorer.
  2. Right-click on the drive you want to check.
  3. Go to Properties.
  4. In Windows, go to Tools and click on Check. If the hard drive is causing the problem, you will find it here.

You can also run SpeedFan to check for possible issues with the hard drive. If the hard drive has malfunctioned, you will need help from the brand’s authorised service centre for replacement.

If you’re planning to buy a new laptop, we recommend buying it along with the Onsitego Extended Warranty Plan to ensure a longer life for your device. Our extended warranty covers all the defects and malfunctions covered in the standard manufacturer’s warranty and you can buy Onsitego’s extended warranty plan with up to 4 years of validity on top of the standard 1-year manufacturer warranty.

Why does my laptop keep freezing and crashing?

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