Why would a PC lock up?

Answer

Usually a PC locks up due to hardware or software conflicts. You can tell if it's a hardware conflict if the lock ups occur while using the same combination of equipment (e.g. printing while downloading something off the web). This was more common in older systems - but I haven't experienced this problem with newer PCs in the past few years due to their achievements in making equipment compatible with other vendors.

More commonly, a lockup is due to software conflicts. These are harder to troubleshoot, since they could appear randomly. Most times, this is due to a lack of memory. If you have a lot of software on your PC, they could be using most of your free memory. If you're running 128Mb or 256Mb with a Windows 2000 or greater OS, then you're probably lacking in RAM.

In the Task Manager, check out the Performance tab & peep the memory section (the 2nd graph Page File Usage History). If the yellow line is anywhere near 1/2 way through the grid, you might want to upgrade your memory or uninstall memory-hungry apps.

With today's applications, it's not uncommon to upgrade to 512Mb of RAM (around $60-80). As for uninstalling unnecessary application, go to Control Panel & then to "Add/Remove Programs". Search for any unrecognized and unnecessary apps & remove them.

Answer

Computer may lock up when the hard drive is fragmented or almost full, and the registry is full of junk from previously installed programs. See related questions for advice on cleaning up.

First answer by Sean. Last edit by Svemir. Contributor trust: 24 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 270 [recommend question]

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