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Have you ever been working on an important report or about to make your highest score in your favorite game, and your computer suddenly freezes? You sit for a while hoping that things will start working again, but it doesn’t happen. What’s more, you encounter the dreaded blue screen error and are forced to reboot your system or your computer simply crashes. Anybody who has worked with Windows computers know the harmful effects of computer freeze and crash occurrences. Not only may you lose your data, but you may also end up with corrupt registry entries and system files. Computer crashes may occur due to several reasons. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the most common reasons and a few simple tasks that you can perform to resolve them.

Reason 1: Software Problems

Software problems usually occur when there is a problem with an installed software or device driver. If this happens, the best way to resolve the error is to either uninstall this faulty software and reinstall it or try to update it with its latest version. For example, you may have to reinstall Windows firewall software if it is working erratically and causing problems with your Internet access activity.

Reason 2: Faulty RAM

You may have one or more Random Access Memory chips on your computer. Quite often, RAM related problems occur if the RAM chips on your computer are not of the same configuration or one of the chips is faulty. RAM related problems may usually generate fatal exception errors that may stop your computer from functioning and crash your PC.

To check your RAM for problems you may use a good memory testing tool to run various diagnostics tests and identify the fault. You may also remove all but one RAM chip and then start your PC to see if the error occurs. If it does, then the chip on the system is causing the problem, otherwise, keep adding your RAM chips until you identify the faulty chip.

Reason 3: Hard Disk Problems

Hard disk problems usually occur when your disk gets filled up with unwanted programs, temporary files, obsolete system files and other such data. This filled up hard disk also causes disk fragmentation that may further slow down your disk and may even cause physical damage to it. This is the reason why to prevent hard disk problems, it is essential that you periodically use Add or Remove Program or a good third-party un-installer to remove unwanted software. You must also use Disk Cleanup regularly to clean up all unwanted junk files. In addition to this, it is essential that you use Disk Defragmenter periodically to make data on your disk contiguous and further enhance the speed of your computer.

Reason 4: Virus and Spyware Infections

Malicious infections such as virus, Trojan, worms, Spyware and Adware may stealthily creep on to your system through different sources and cause havoc. These Malware programs can generate many different types of computer errors, cause system crashes, steal your personal and confidential data, and in more severe cases even erase your entire hard disk. To prevent these infections, it is essential that you have anti-Malware tools, such as AntiVirus and anti-Spyware on your computer. For these tools to be effective you must choose tools that offer real-time protection and keep these tools updated with the latest malware definitions to ensure you are protected against the latest threats at all times. It is also important that you run regular full system scans to ensure that no malicious data exists on the disk.

Reason 5: Registry Problems

System crashes may occur due to an unstable, fragmented, and slow registry. To prevent these registry problems it is essential that you regularly scan and clean your registry. To avoid manually scanning through the complex registry tree by using the Registry cleaner tool, it is best to use a good and reliable third-party registry cleanup tool. These tools can help you perform several other registry maintenance tasks, including registry cleanup, backup, and defragment.

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Many of the times we come across different terms in computer security and more home user AntiVirus and Spyware are the two most common terms, but they are and how to handle them. Let’s find out in this article.

Spyware: Spyware is software programs that show performs some operation or behaviors such as advertising, collecting personal information, or changing the configuration of your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent first.

Signs of Spyware

• Advertisement pop-ups comes all the time.
• Computer settings has been changed.
• Browser install some additional extension that you never installed.
• Computer performance goes down.
• Unfamiliar websites are handling your search.
• Antispyware programs stop working and keep asking that some files are missing or your computer requires a critical update.

How to Prevent yourself from Spyware

• Use a Firewall :Spyware’s are generally bundled with some other programs after installation spyware try to access Internet or performing some other activity on your system, Firewall may block or ask user permission for all these activities.  Always go for two way firewall.
• Adjust Internet Explorer Settings: Internet Explorer is now more secure and offers a better control over your browsing. Always use Internet Explorer’s Protected Mode.
• Download and Install a Good Antispyware: Download and install a good Antispyware program. Windows Vista comes with preinstalled Windows Defender. Windows XP users can also download and install Windows Defender with free of cost.
• Downloads software’s only from trusted websites. If you find any webpage is vulnerable then instead if using mouse use ALT+F4 to close that webpage. Beware before downloading or visiting various free music and movie websites.

Virus: Virus are small computer programs that are designed to infect the computer also spread from one computer to another computer. A computer virus can delete all your computer data, use computers email program to send and receive email as well as spread the same virus. There are a number of way for a virus to come in computer system like e-mail message or instant messaging messages, e-mail attachments,attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files.

Signs of viruses:

• Computer runs more slowly than normal.
• Computer stops responding or locks up often.
• Computer crashes and restarts every few minutes.
• Computer restarts on its own and then fails to run normally.
• Applications on computer don’t work or stop working correctly.
• Disks or disk drives are inaccessible.
• Unusual error messages are keep coming.
• Distorted menus and dialog boxes.

These are common signs of infection—but they might also indicate hardware or software problems that have nothing to do with a virus. Unless you run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool and install industry-standard, up-to-date antivirus software on your computer, there is no way to be certain if your computer is infected with a virus or not. If you don’t have current antivirus software installed or if you’re interested in installing a different brand, you can try Windows Live OneCare free for 90 days or visit our Security software downloads page for software from other companies.

How to Prevent yourself from Virus

• Use a Firewall
• Use Good AntiVirus Software program
• Regularly update computer software’s.
• Remove unwanted software’s from computer.
• Never open an e-mail attachment from someone you don’t know.
• Only download or accept programs and content (including photos, video clips, ring tones, mobile device themes, and games) from a source you trust.

This article is written after visiting Microsoft Security Website

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Currently around 80% of computers connected to internet are infected with spyware. For working securely on internet you must know the symptoms of spyware and how to remove spyware from your computer. If your computer starts to behave strangely or displays any of the symptoms listed below, you may have spyware or other unwanted software installed on your computer.

Computer is Slow: If your computer is working slowly as compare to its normal speed then there may be chances that your computer is infected with spyware. If some programs are crashing to frequently then it might be the chance that your computer is infected with spyware.

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