)If that still doesn’t do the trick, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete again and click the Power icon (shown here) in the screen’s bottom-right corner.

Computers sometimes have fluke problems like these.

You should use onscreen shutdown methods, but, if it’s not responding, there’s no other way to fix it.The tips above can help your PC recover from a freeze and get things functioning normally again. To eliminate the risk of software bugs, it’s a good idea to reinstall Windows. Restarting, also known as rebooting, is also sometimes called resetting.However, the term resetting is also often used synonymously with a factory reset, meaning a complete wipe-and-reinstall of a system, something very different than a restart and not something you want to take lightly. Windows PCs freeze for a variety of reasons. The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek.How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology.
On the Processes tab, click the name of the program that’s causing the mess and then click the End Task button.

Move the mouse to highlight Safe Mode, and then press Enter, your computer will boot automatically from safe mode. There might be a bug in your computer’s hardware drivers or other software.If freezes are a regular occurrence, though, something is wrong with your PC. One instance might be a fluke, but repeated freezes suggest a problem you’ll want to fix. You’ll lose any unsaved work in the program, but if it’s crashed and is using a lot of CPU, there might be no way to recover your unsaved data, anyway.Sometimes, your Windows desktop—including the taskbar and Start menu—might freeze. How to Restore Files from File History in Windows 10Every once in a while, Windows 10 just drops the ball and wanders off somewhere to sit under a tree. From this screen, you can open the Task Manager (and close any running applications), or log out of or restart your PC.

You lose any unsaved work in that program, of course, but you should be used to that. To do so, locate “Windows Explorer” in the list of Processes, click to select it, and then click the “Restart” button. Select "View all" from the left side panel of the window. On Windows 10, you can If you just installed a major Windows update within the last ten days, you can also try Chris Hoffman is Editor in Chief of How-To Geek. If it’s just a one-time freeze, don’t worry about it too much. Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. Pressing every key on the keyboard doesn’t do anything, or worse yet, the computer starts to beep at every key press.When nothing onscreen moves (except sometimes the mouse pointer), the computer is frozen up solid. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than 500 million times---and that's just here at How-To Geek. If the freezes started recently, and you’ve also recently updated your PC or installed new software, try To ensure that malware isn’t causing problems with your system, we recommend Hardware problems are much more difficult to pin down. Here’s how to unfreeze and recover a stuck PC—and stop it from freezing again.There are several ways you can recover your frozen PC, depending on what caused the problem. 3. Restart your computer and then keep pressing F8keys until Advanced Options menuscreen appears. "Reboot" Doesn't Always Mean "Reset" Be careful if you see the option to reset something. Tip 2: Adjust the Number of Programs that Run at Startup You’re left looking at a computer that just looks back. The Task Manager lists the names of currently running programs, including the one that’s not responding.
Try the following approaches, in the following order, to correct the problem:This action rarely works, but give it a shot anyway.If you’re lucky, the Task Manager appears with the message that it discovered an unresponsive application. Way 3: Restart or shut down Windows 10 in the Shut Down Windows dialog. If this screen doesn’t appear, you might not be able to recover your PC without rebooting it.Select the “Processes” tab—if you don’t see it, click “More Details.” Locate any processes using a lot of CPU—you can click the “CPU” column header to sort by CPU usage and see the most demanding processes at the top of the list.Click a process to select it, and then click “End Task” to forcibly end the program.