Computer Crashes Troubleshooting

Reader Question:
“Hi Wally, I am having problems with Computer Crashes and wondering how to fix it?“ - Erica A., Canada

Before addressing any computer issue, I always recommend scanning and repairing any underlying problems affecting your PC health and performance:

Step 1 : Download PC Repair & Optimizer Tool (WinThruster for Win 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP and 2000 – Microsoft Gold Certified).
Step 2 : Click “Start Scan” to find Windows registry issues that could be causing PC problems.
Step 3 : Click “Repair All” to fix all issues.

Setting up weekly (or daily) automatic scans will help prevent system problems and keep your PC running fast and trouble-free.

Wally’s Answer:

Overview of Computer Crashes

A “computer crash” is a condition where a computer or a program, either an application or part of the operating system, ceases to function properly, often exiting after encountering continuous errors. Strictly speaking, a system crash signifies either a hardware malfunction or a very serious software bug.

If the program is a critical part of the Windows operating system “Kernel”, the entire computer may crash. This is different from a hang or freeze where the application or OS continues to run without an obvious response to the input. Often the offending program may appear to freeze or hang until a crash reporting service includes the details of the crash.

A PC crash commonly occurs when a hardware exception occurs that cannot be handled or when internal sanity-checking logic within the operating system detects that the operating system has lost its internal self-consistency. Microsoft Windows XP includes a crash reporting service called “Windows Error Reporting” that prompts the users to send crash reports to Microsoft for online analysis.

Modern multi-tasking operating systems, such as Windows NT, Linux, or Mac OS X usually remain unharmed when an application program crashes.

What Problems are Associated with Computer Crashes?

Many reasons may contribute to a computer crash: new software or file installation, failure in hardware, registry error, and poor maintenance of the PC.

The most common reason for a computer crash is registry errors. The registry file also called the “Windows registry”, is the file that gives your computer instructions for what to do next. Any corruption or misplacement will lead to the failure of a computer to get orders as to what to do next. In that case, it will result in a computer crash. Poor maintenance of your PC might result in “registry dust” or junk build-up in the registry.

Both install and uninstall software may cause registry errors. For example, if you uninstall one program improperly, it will leave registry values that may cause computer freeze.

Typical errors that result in application crashes are attempting to read or write memory that is not allocated for reading or writing by that application, attempting to execute privileged or invalid instructions, attempting to perform I/O operations on hardware devices to which it does not have permission to access, passing invalid arguments to system calls, or attempting to access other system resources to which the application does not have permission to access (bus errors).

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Is Your PC Healthy?

I always recommend to my readers to regularly use a trusted registry cleaner and optimizer such as WinThruster or CCleaner. Many problems that you encounter can be attributed to a corrupt and bloated registry.

Happy Computing!

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About the Author

Wally PhillipsWindows Wally is a helpful guy. It’s just in his nature. It’s why he started a blog in the first place. He heard over and over how hard it was to find simple, plain-English solutions to Windows troubleshooting problems on the Internet. Enter: Windows Wally. Ask away, and he will answer.