How to Reboot a Crashed Computer

Your computer freezes, the mouse seems sluggish and you're left with this overwhelming feeling that your computer has died. This is not true in most cases. You're experiencing a computer crash or a program crash. You need to know how to reboot a crashed computer while causing as little harm to your programs and the computer. Try each step until you finally have a good reboot.

Things You'll Need

• Working mouse Working keyboard

Instructions

1. Move the mouse. In most cases, it probably won't close the application, but try it first. Use the keyboard to bring up the task manager. Press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete buttons together. Wait a few seconds so the task manager can open.

2. Look under the Applications tab; you'll see the applications running. Determine what you were doing when the crash occurred. In most cases, the Internet froze. Use the mouse to highlight the Internet connection. Then click on "End Task." It causes Windows to close this application.

3. If this still doesn't work, reboot the computer at the Start menu. Caution: You will lose any unsaved work. Move the mouse to the Start menu and click the "Turn off Computer" in the lower right hand corner. A box will pop up asking you what you want to do. Click on the "Restart Computer" icon.

4. If this doesn't reboot the computer, shut done the computer at the CPU. This step must be the last resort. It's not a good idea to shut down a computer this way unless Steps 1, 2 and 3 have failed. After the computer turns off, press the "Power" button again to start the computer.

Tips & Warnings

• When you close an application in the Task Manager, you may have to close all of them if you're not sure which one caused the computer crash. After you restart the computer after shutting down at the CPU, do a Disk Defrag on the computer.