
Here you will see a list of programs running. Use the Tab key to highlight the Applications tab, and press Enter. Hold down Ctrl and Alt keys, then press the Del key to bring up the Task Manager. In this case the keyboard is normally responsive. If you are a bit luckier when the computer freezes, the mouse will move but won’t be clickable. Normally nothing is found amiss but Windows might perform a minor repair or two in the file system before serving up the desktop.

When Windows starts back up it might ask to inspect one or more drives for consistency - allow it to do this. It is very possible that unsaved data will be lost in this process, but there isn’t a way to engage a proper shutdown when the keyboard and mouse are both unresponsive. This means cutting the power to the computer forcing a shutdown, waiting a moment, then powering it back up. Sometimes when a computer freezes, neither the keyboard nor mouse is responsive and there is no way out but to do a hard reboot.

Once you've shut down a frozen computer, wait a few moments before hitting the power button and turning it back on again. When you get past the freeze (options for this just ahead), run a full scan of your system at the first opportunity. You might have also had other problems, like spontaneous reboots or the dreaded “ blue screen of death (BSOD).” In any case, when the computer freezes and nothing has changed in terms of hardware or software, you might very well be looking at a problem caused by an infection. If this is the case you might have noticed the computer slowing in recent days or weeks.

A hard reboot may be necessary if the mouse on the computer is unresponsive.įinally, secretly installed malicious software like viruses, spyware, Trojans, rootkits and keyloggers can cause computers to freeze by interfering with the operating system’s normal processes.
