How to Fix Common Freezing Problems in PCs

PCs tend to build up unnecessary programs that start up every time you turn on your computer. This leads to a drain of your usable memory and will cause freezing problems unless tended to.

Instructions

Finding Startup Programs

1. Click on the "Start" button.

2. Select "All Programs."

3. Select "Startup."

4. Decide which programs listed actually need to be starting up every time you power on your computer. Some programs you may want to leave there include anti-virus software, printing software, networking software, etc.

5. Delete all the unneeded software so that there will be less memory usage the next time you turn on your PC.

Finding Startup Programs in the Registry

1. Click "Start" and select "Run."

2. Type "REGEDIT" (no quote marks) and press "OK" to open the Registry Editor.

3. Be very careful when editing the registry as many critical programs store needed files in it.

4. Follow the path: "HKEY_Current_user/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run" (no quote marks).

5. Delete any key that is not recognizable as most virus and spyware programs start up here. If you feel you can do without any programs starting up that are not listing under Section 1, you may want to clean out all the keys here.

6. Repeat Step 5 for any other folders beginning with the word "Run," such as "RunOnce."

7. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 following the path: "HKEY_Local_Machine/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run" (no quote marks).

Determining the Amount of Memory Your PC Has

1. Click on "Start."

2. Right-click on "My Computer."

3. Select "Properties."

4. This should bring up a window stating some basic details of your machine. The amount of memory that is installed should be towards the bottom of the screen. For example, 2.76GB of RAM.

5. If you do not have at least 1GB of RAM, you may want to upgrade your machine to have more.