Why Does My Computer Crash, Freeze or Hang All The Time?

Do you see a lot of messages like, "This program performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" ? Or do you find that your mouse often freezes and you have to reset your computer to regain control?

This is a very common complaint for many computer users. Why this happens can be due to a number of things. The most common causes of these troublesome problems will be covered here. They fall into the following general categories:

Hardware: Defective or mismatched components in your computer.

Aluminum Migration & ESD: Premature ageing and “Electro Static Discharge” can make a computer very intermittent.

Operating System: Some versions of Windows have bugs that can cause these problems.

Drivers: Buggy or down-level drivers can cause many problems.

Software: Some programs have bugs in them that can cause these problems.

Memory Fragmentation: Do you often see the message, "System is dangerously low in resources" If so you are probably suffering Memory Fragmentation.

CMOS Settings: Improper CMOS settings can cause many problems. Changing CMOS settings can also be used to help diagnose some hardware problems.

Loading Order: The order in which the software components of your computer are loaded into memory, at startup each day, can cause a multitude of odd problems.

A Combination of the above: Defects in any of the above may only show up under specific circumstances.