When your computer freezes while you are in the middle of doing something productive, it can be an extremely frustrating experience. Unfortunately, depending on what is causing your computer to freeze, you may lose any unsaved data when you correct the problem.

However, regardless of whether the problem that is causing your computer to freeze is a software or hardware issue, there are simple straightforward steps that you can take to resolve it.

Press the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys on your keyboard simultaneously. If the keyboard is responsive, a new window with a list of options appears. Click Start Task Manager to open the Task Manager window. The list of programs currently running on your computer is displayed.

Click on the name of the program that has the message “This program is not responding” next to it in the Status column, then click the End Task button. The program that is causing the problem is automatically terminated and you can resume using your computer.

If the keyboard is unresponsive, you will have to perform a hard reboot of your computer. A hard reboot is restarting your computer without using the normal shut down procedure through the operating system. Press the power button on your computer and hold it until the computer restarts. You can resume using the computer when it restarts.