Crashes, Lockups, Freezes and Such

Thawing a freeze

Lockups (freezes) plague the Windows 9x series, including ME. All you can do is restart Windows. On the other hand, Windows XP is nearly immune to them. You'll get a freeze, but usually it's just a program that has crashed.

You can kill the program and restart it without restarting Windows XP. [Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and then use "Close Task" to "End" the offending Application (Program).

Sometimes you can't kill a program directly, but you can kill the underlying process. Click the "Processes" tab in Windows Task Manager > click the "Image Name" heading in the list to sort them alphabetically > look for process(es) that relate to the application > click on the process to select it, and "End Process".

Is this a new problem?

Did your problems begin recently? Have you added new hardware? A new peripheral? New software? You could uninstall what you've just added to see if that's what's causing the problem.

Before you do however, you might want to try limiting the number of programs that start on their own. The last one you installed may have been the "last straw". You might be able to fix things by removing other straws instead. Learn why and how below.

Limit programs that autostart

It seems that most PC software -- Windows, security programs, scanners, media players, digital camera programs -- whatever -- are "ego-centric". They all want to automatically start something when Windows starts. Each one tries to elbow to the front.

Each of these autostart programs uses up some of your precious "System Resources". Each program that you subsequently open uses more. When the resources are all used up, your computer crashes. These extraneous programs also sap your computer's performance. Microsoft didn't see the system resources problem coming. They finally fixed it in Windows XP though.

You can spot many of these autostarted programs over in the "System Tray" at the right end of your Taskbar. Brand new computers are usually already cluttered. Much of it is gimmick software that most people never use. Then the programs you add often increases the clutter.

The only way to conserve "System Resources" is to limit the number of programs that are open at the same time. Of course, one way to do that is to restrict the number of programs that autostart when Windows starts. Many of these programs are not visible, which confounds the problem. Learn how to limit the programs that autostart in the instructions below. There's much more good information on pruning startup programs at the Paul Collins site.

Update: spyware

Since 2003, spyware has become the biggest threat and nuisance on the Internet. It's easy to have dozens of these parasitic programs infect your computer. Earthlink says that 30% of their users do, and it's estimated that 50% of business computers are also infected. Spyware will slow your computer down, and increase the frequency of crashes in addition to all the nefarious things that it does. If you have any suspicion that your computer is gummed up with spyware, find out, and if it is, and get rid of it.

Unconventional wisdom

Many people have recommended--including me--that you use MSconfig, the System Configuration Utility, to limit the number of programs that autostart when you start Windows. MSconfig is not the best tool to start with though. MSconfig is a troubleshooting tool. It was never designed for this purpose. As a consequence, the system may fight you on some choices, and clutter the registry in the process. That will lead to problems in getting things set up the way you really want them. If you're already having problems--multiple entries for example--see the solution to for those problems below.

The best way to disable autostarting

Many programs start at startup because they have a shortcut in the StartUp folder of the Start Menu. Right click the Start button and choose "Explore". Expand the Programs folder (use the "+") and click the Startup folder to open it. If there are shortcuts in this folder (shown in the right-hand pane) for programs that you don't want to start, you need to move them. Click the Programs folder > right click in a clear area of the folder (right-hand pane) > point at "New" in the context menu that pops up > select folder > name it "Disabled Startup Items". Now drag-and-drop (look under dragging in Help) the shortcuts you want to remove to this new folder.

If those methods don't work try this

If you don't find a shortcut in the StartUp folder for the program you want to suppress, see if you can find its startup controls. Most candidates for suppression will be in the "System Tray" at the right end of your Taskbar. Try right-clicking the icon in the system tray that corresponds to the program. You may get a window that offers choices. If a right-click does nothing, try left-clicking, and finally try double-clicking to see if you can get options. Once you get something to work with, explore all the menus and other options to see if you can "uncheck" something that will keep the program from starting at startup.

If none of those work, you may be able to get at the options or preferences for a program from an entry in the Start menu instead. Look for a program group folder for that program in the Start menu. If one of the shortcuts includes "setup", "settings" "options" or something similar, try that. Otherwise, try the shortcut to the program itself.

The startup controls for some programs are located in the "Control Panel". Click Start > Settings > Control Panel. For example I use a program called ZipMagic. The startup controls for that program are available from its applet in Control Panel.

Once you get some kind of interface open, look for options, preferences, setup or something similar under the Tools, File or View menus. Let's say you find it under Tools > preferences. Now look for an option like "Start the control center when Windows starts" that you can turn off, or an option like "run in system tray" that you can select or unselect as appropriate.

Now, it's time for MSconfig:

If you didn't find any other way to prevent autostart using the program's controls, then you'll need to use MSconfig. Start it by clicking Start > Run > type "msconfig" (without the quotes) > then click "OK".

Next, click the Startup tab and scroll down the list of programs, comparing the entries there to this list of programs. To suppress an item, click to clear its check box. Printerdesktop and Answersthatwork also provide lists of startup programs that may be more up to date than the list at this site.

You can get another view of programs that are running by using the System Information utility. Click Start > Run > then type "msinfo32" (without the quotes) and click OK > Click the "+" in front of "Software Environment" and then look in "Startup Programs" and/or "Running Tasks".

You may want to uncheck only one or a few programs at a time in the list under the Startup tab. There may be other programs on your list that are not on those generic description lists. They're all candidates for suppression. When you're done, click OK, and restart your computer when asked.

You can tell how well you're doing by opening the "Resource Meter": Click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Resource Meter. It will show up in the "System Tray" at the right end of the "Taskbar". Get a "before" and "after" picture by opening it right after you restart your computer, and then again after you have made changes and restarted it. Right click on the icon to see the details.

Fred Langa's article on "Resource Leaks" ( Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four ) gives a full explanation of what's going on, and a comprehensive set of steps, including those above and more. Another excellent place to find information is "Resource Management."

NOTE: You'll need to start these disabled programs "manually" if and when you want to use them in the future.

MSconfig problems

If you use MSconfig incorrectly you may end up with duplicate entries under the startup tab. Or you may uncheck a program only to find it starts again anyway, and the box is rechecked. Some duplicates are there by design. "LoadPowerProfile" is one--both entries should either be enabled or unenabled.

To fix problems like that, start msconfig and check the box in the startup tab for every entry related to the program. Click OK and then restart your computer. Of course the program will start, but any duplicates should be gone. Other problems should be cleared as well. Now follow the instructions above, and get your startup set the way you want it.

Don't buy snake oil

Windows' proclivity for crashing has inspired many "snake oil" remedies. There are hundreds of them. They do nothing to prevent crashing--they may even make things worse. These misguided remedies are designed to manage imagined memory problems, but it's not a memory problem--it's a "resources" problem as described above. Resources are accessible only by Windows, not by any program or utility.

Cacheman, available at Outertech.com is the one of the very few remedies that might be worth using. Cacheman merely changes some Windows memory management settings to address a real but subtle memory problem better than the standard setup does. These Cacheman settings improve performance (speed) too.

The good news: Windows XP will not have a resources problem. That and other changes should make XP much more stable than Windows 9x, Me and that ilk. (Some operating systems *can* and do run for a month or more without crashing.) You may need a new computer to upgrade, but hey, it's only money.

Resources

Scientific American has a good article on why computers crash.

There's much more good information on pruning startup programs at the Paul Collins site, and on pruning Windows XP services at the Black Viper site.

A comprehensive list of programs that start with Windows, and the ones it's safe to shut down.

ZDNet has a short and fairly good article, "When Windows crashes", that gives more information on resources and crashes. And here's a couple more: [clean up] [duplicates]