You are faced by one of the most frustrating and ambiguous computer problems when your computer freezes randomly. Frustrating, because you may be in the middle of some important work on the computer and it hangs, albeit (hopefully) temporarily. Leaving you helpless and clueless because there can be various reasons for such a disaster to strike. A few common reasons and ways to solve this problem, and prevent your computer from freezing at random times are discussed in the following sections of this Buzzle article. If your desktop computer or your laptop have ever gone into the frozen mode, it could be because of any of the reasons listed below

• Incompatibility of the software you are trying to run with the computer
• The computer being affected by virus
• Your system configuration is inadequate to run the program you are trying to
• The page file is getting held up in the cache for a long time.
• There is not enough free memory on your computer
• The computer does not have adequate sources
• There is a problem in the computer hardware

Virus Check The foremost thing you should do is to run an anti-virus program which will help in detecting and removing viruses from your computer. Make sure you have an updated version of the anti-virus software you will be using, as on outdated version will not be effective. Most of these updates are available on the manufacturer's website. In case you don't have any anti-virus program installed in your computer, you can use free web-based anti-virus software available online. Spyware Check Sometimes it is not the virus, but some troublesome spyware or ad-ware present in your system which makes the computer freeze randomly. Therefore, it is essential to run a spyware removal tool to get rid of unwanted spyware. The spyware removal tool can be bought from a computer software store or downloaded from the Internet. Go Through Recently-installed Items There are chances of your computer not having the required configuration to run certain software or support some of the hardware devices. To ensure that this is not the case, uninstall any newly installed software or hardware to see if the problem still persists. If your computer still freezes randomly, then it is due to a different reason and you can conveniently reinstall the software on your system. Check the Hard Disk You need to keep a minimum free space which is equal to 20% of your total space available in the C drive. If this drive is crowded, it could be the cause of your computer problem. You can also do a hard disk check by right clicking on the 'My Computer' icon, and clicking- Tools → Check Disk Options → Check Now → Yes. The computer will restart, and after starting again, the 'check' will run and fix some of the problems on its own. Try running the 'disk defragmenter' program, from the 'system tools' option in the accessories menu―this makes the best use of available space on the disk and allows it to give a better performance. Computer Memory Check If the Random Access Memory (RAM) becomes faulty, there is a possibility of your computer freezing randomly. Do a quick memory test using a relevant software from the net, and if necessary, re-install or replace your RAM. Check for Excess Heating At times, the fans responsible for keeping the CPU cool become faulty, and could result in your computer freezing frequently. Dust accumulates on these fans, because of which their potency to keep the system cool also reduces. Clean the fans or replace them if necessary. Update Your System Your computer can freeze randomly if you are still using outdated versions of certain software. You will have to update your windows by downloading necessary drives from the net. Doing this regularly is a very good way of keeping your system up-to-date and preventing few other problems as well. You can use any of the above mentioned ways if your computer freezes randomly in XP, Vista or any other version of Microsoft windows. Of course, the possibility that there are several other causes for this problem to arise cannot be ruled out, in which case, the solutions mentioned above may not work. In such cases, it is advisable to have your computer checked by an authorized repair person.