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Computers get hot. We know this from the loud fans bolted inside our desktops, and the alarming burning sensation we feel on our legs after using a laptop for too long. Everything inside a PC generates heat, and heat can cause components to become unstable and crash your PC. Indeed, computers are designed to crash as a last-ditch effort to protect their own internal components from permanent heat damage. Here is what to do when your computer is overheating. Dust Out Your Computer’s Case: Dust accumulates in desktop PC cases and even laptops over time, clogging fans and blocking air flow. This dust can cause ventilation problems, trapping heat and preventing your PC from cooling itself properly. Be sure to clean your computer’s case occasionally to prevent dust build-up. Unfortunately, it’s often more difficult to dust out overheating laptops. Ensure Proper Ventilation: Put the computer in a location where it can properly ventilate itself. If it’s a desktop, don’t push the case up against a wall so that the computer’s vents become blocked or leave it near a radiator or heating vent. If it’s a laptop, be careful to not block its air vents, particularly when doing something demanding. For example, putting a laptop down on a mattress, allowing it to sink in, and leaving it there can lead to overheating — especially if the laptop is doing something demanding and generating heat it can’t get rid of. Check if Fans Are Running: If you’re not sure why your computer started overheating, open its case and check that all the fans are running. It’s possible that a CPU, graphics card, or case fan failed or became unplugged, reducing air flow. Tune Up Heat Sinks: If your CPU is overheating, its heat sink may not be seated correctly or its thermal paste may be old. You may need to remove the heat sink and re-apply new thermal paste before reseating the heat sink properly. This tip applies more to tweakers, overclockers, and people who build their own PCs, especially if they may have made a mistake when originally applying the thermal paste. If everything looks good with your airflow but the temperatures continue to rise, check your BIOS settings. If you've messed around with voltage settings during some kind of overclocking escapade, reset the values to their defaults. The more voltage a component receives, the hotter it becomes. Fragmented hard drive Every time you save a file, install a program, or delete something, your hard drive becomes more fragmented. Not only does this slow down the hard drive, it can also give your OS trouble when trying to find necessary files to function. So your system will eventually give up and try again—with a crash. Defragmenting your PC is as easy as pushing a button. Download Wise Disk Cleaner, run it every week or so to keep your files straightened out. One very important note, however: Defragmenting isn't necessary for solid-state drives. SSDs already store data in a sequential order (as opposed to random order) and can be susceptible to damage if defragmented. Corrupted Registry Your PC's Registry is a vast library of system settings—settings that can sometimes lead to blue screens and other instabilities. Indeed, even when programs are uninstalled, their Registry settings can stay behind. The settings are useless to the daily operation of your PC, but can nonetheless lead to system bloat, conflict and errors. Your computer continues to scan these error-ridden Registry entries, slowing everything down. Too much of this, and you can kiss stability goodbye. The crash may have left behind errors with the PC's registry. The registry provides directions for every program on a Windows computer, telling your PC what to do next. If there's an error in your registry, your computer might not know what to do. It's probably not a great idea to try fixing the registry on your own. I recommend you use Wise Registry Cleaner which can fix a corrupted registry. Gather clues to fix the problem Any information you can pull off a BSOD can provide a problem-solving clue. So when you get a blue screen, write down as much as you can, and search online for information on the error it's throwing at you. Diagnose the problem and get it solved, because ignoring the problem will make everything worse in the long run.

If you've ever used Windows, chances are you've experienced PC crash. PC crash can be caused by all kinds of reasons, it can be many things. Sometimes it's a string of error messages. Of course, there is everybody’s favorite blue screens of death (BSoD). Also there's the eternally maddening "nothing happens" crash when you try to turn the computer on. Here is how to deal with PC crash: Virus and Safe Mode Malware is a significant cause of blue screens. But, luckily, the solution is simple. Start up your trusted antivirus program, make sure it's up-to-date, and give your system the most robust scan available. Starting in safe mode (press F8 while the computer is starting) is an easy way to go behind a virus' back to destroy it.If the virus has disabled your ability to start up your antivirus software, mutter angrily to yourself while you restart in safe mode by pressing F8 before the Windows logo appears. Safe mode will disable any extraneous programs and drivers from launching, and allows just the core operating system to load. Once in safe mode, you should be able to run your antivirus program, and complete a thorough scan from there. If your computer won't restart, your next move is to try restarting it in Safe Mode. Sometimes faulty drivers are the root cause of a crash -- rebooting the computer in Safe Mode disables most of those drivers in the hopes of getting the machine restarted, and perhaps recovering any lost data. To reboot in Safe Mode, press the F8 key while restarting -- the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, providing choices in the Boot menu. Newer versions of Windows provide several Safe Mode options to choose from -- use the arrow keys (not the mouse) to make a selection, and press Enter. Bear in mind that when the computer restarts in Safe Mode, it will look, feel and function differently than you're used to -- for example, it will display using fewer colors in a smaller screen resolution, and certain components won't work. In other words, you won't want to use the computer in Safe Mode for very long. Once you've successfully restarted in Safe Mode, work quickly to restore and back up any lost data, make any changes to your system setup and then reboot again normally. While in Safe Mode, you can attempt to determine the cause of the crash to either disable or uninstall the culprit and avoid future trouble. Windows keeps track of the programs you're using in the Event Viewer -- this is a good place to look for the cause of a crash. Click Start, go to the Control Panel, and click on Administrative Tools. From there, double-click on the Event Viewer and choose the System section. Error symbols will be marked with a red exclamation point, suggesting which program(s) may have caused the crash. Hardware conflicts Many blue screens are a result of hardware and installation conflicts. All of your system's components consume interrupt request channels when installed, and every device requires its own channel to function properly. When two devices share the same channel and are used simultaneously, a crash can occur. Open your Device Manager by right clicking My Computer and then clicking Manage, and look for any devices marked with a yellow exclamation point. This kind of problem can usually be fixed with a driver update. Just search your device manufacturer's website for the latest driver software. Reinstall the offending hardware itself if necessary. Bad RAM Open Memory Diagnostics Tool by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clicking Administrative Tools, and then clicking Memory Diagnostics Tool.‌ Or just search Memory Diagnostics Tool. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Choose between the two options for when to run the Memory Diagnostics Tool: You can restart your computer and run the tool immediately. You can restart your computer and run the tool later.