Fixing "Not Responding" Errors

When you ask your computer to complete an action and it stalls, it will generally show you a spinning hourglass. This means that your computer is taking extra time to complete the task, for whatever reason, and you have to wait. When it's finished, the hourglass disappears and you can resume what you were doing.

If the computer cannot complete the action it means that something went wrong. You will get a message saying that your system is "not responding." On older computers or in earlier versions of Windows, this problem can usually be fixed by shutting your computer down and rebooting. This can be a hassle. Newer versions of Windows were designed to do more and therefore crash less.

In Windows Vista, for instance, when your computer is not responding you are offered a choice. You can either shut the program down or respond to it. If you shut the program or application down, you can simply carry on with other tasks and you don't need to shut down your computer. You might lose some information associated with the "not responding" application, but all other programs will be unaffected.

In Windows XP and Windows Vista, when a program is not responding, you can simply shut it down on your own. All you have to do is press "Control," "Alt" and "Delete" at the same time. A window will pop up: select the "Performance" tab to see how your computer's resources are being managed. Something is obviously not responding, since you received an error message and it might be that the CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the memory is full. To shut down the program that is not responding, select the "Applications" tab, choose the program that is not responding, and then select "End Task."

Alternatively, you can see how much memory is being used by a given program or application. Select the "Process" tab and choose the .exe file. For example, you can see how much memory Microsoft Excel is using by looking for excel.exe and then reviewing the associated numbers. Some programs will use a lot more resources than others. You should review all of the applications in the list and see which programs are using how much memory. You should end any unnecessary programs as they might have contributed to the original "not responding" error.

Limiting the startup tasks is an easy three-step process:

1. Select the "Start" menu and hit "Run."
2. A text box will appear. Type msconfig into the box and click "Enter."
3. Select the startup tab and delete all of the unnecessary items.

When you clean up your applications and the amount of memory and power that is being used by unnecessary programs you can greatly increase the speed of your computer. Also, make sure that your operating system is free of viruses such as malware and spyware. These can significantly deplete your computer's resources and can be hard to remove from your system.

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