How Often Does Your Computer Crash?

Published by Jean-Marie on Tagged Computer Support

Since I’ve decided I won’t hide anything from you (at least, as far as computer support goes…), I must tell you computer crashes have been happening way too often at the Moës estate over the course of the last months. We’re indeed down to something like three or four crashes a day now!

Just a small recap, in case one of my readers would be familiar with such a computer support issue.

This happens to our PC, a plain vanilla HP computer, running Windows XP SP2, nothing fancy on it, just a regular configuration, save maybe for the separate sessions for each family member. The crash can occur almost any time (talk about feeling insecure!):

  • Just after my wife has launched the Firefox browser and opened a few tabs,
  • When my daughter is right in the midst of a MSN chat session,
  • While my son has almost finished watching a Naruto video on Dailymotion,
  • Or when I’m plain checking my Google mail.

I’ve checked the whole hardware at least three times, taken every piece apart, made sure every plug was correctly connected, starting from the electrical cord down to the processor pins (am I not supposed to be an experienced tech support guy, after all?) I then cleaned up the whole operating system, uninstalled obsolete games, made sure there were no exotic add-ons left, ran three different tools to make sure there were no virus, or adware/spyware hidden deep inside it, optimized the registry as well as the network and display settings… To no avail.

Sometimes the screen just plain freezes, but more often than not, it just goes blank (I should rather say “it just goes black”), all we’re left doing afterwards is switch it off, wait till it accepts to boot, and start anew. Further than that, everything seems to be perfectly normal. A tech support guy at one of our local stores told me the processor might be the culprit. Well, yes, maybe… Maybe it’s the power supply that’s slowly dying… I don’t know. What I know for sure is the time has definitely come to put an end to this!

I don’t do miracles when it comes to solving such issues, but I believe this is the perfect opportunity for me to start sharing with you in real time the pains I’ll be going through to definitely solve this problem. All I’ll be doing over the course of the next days, weeks, months (years, who knows?) to find the answer to our current PC troubles will be recorded and posted to this blog. You’ll follow my steps while I apply a few basic computer support principles I’ve learned over the course of the last twenty years, which will hopefully lead me to success:

  • You’ll discover how I take our computer apart (something you may do too),
  • You’ll see me run my favorite software tools (never expensive, always efficient),
  • You’ll go and scout the web with me while searching for explanations (in non-technical forums, the others one are just too complicated),
  • You’ll watch me trying to apply your very own support tips and tricks,
  • You’ll get a chance to answer my “Yahoo! Answers” postings,

… and much more!

Stay tuned for the first video… and have fun with your computer!

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January 21st, 2008




6 Responses to “How Often Does Your Computer Crash?”

  1. Ted Mauro Says:
    January 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    Wow. Now this is a handy site. Anyone with a computer should book mark this site.

  2. Mark McGimpsey Says:
    January 24th, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    Hi Jean-Marie.

    I recommend you install these programs
    from http://www.dachshundsoftware.com called
    AntiCrash and Hare.

    Run the AntiCrash sub-program called AutoRepair
    and it will pick up and auto fix problems you’ve
    probably never heard of (much different to a
    registry problem fix).

    Afterwards the program intercepts system crashes
    and memory leaks and prevents the system
    freezing. I think you’ll like it as the first 20 uses
    are free.

  3. Jean-Marie Says:
    January 24th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    Hey Mark,

    Thanks indeed for your comments! I’ll make sure one my next posts reviews AntiCrash and Hare.

    Cheers,
    Jean-Marie

  4. JoAnn Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am

    Hi Jean:

    Looks like you have some great information on your site. I will keep coming back - especially when I have computer glitches!
    JoAnn

  5. Jean-Pierre Courel Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 11:35 am

    Hi Jean-Marie,
    Oui, je ‘ bookmark’ ton site. Autant avec ce post, je n’ai pas encore lu les autres et nos messages persos.
    Il m’arrive assez souvent d’avoir ces problèmes et j’espère trouver des solutions pour ne plus avoir envie de prendre un marteau pour qu’il fonctionne correctement!!

    Amicalement,

    Jean-Pierre
    Ps: merci d’avance pour l’offre de ton aide, je ferai le maximum pour ne pas trop t’ennuyer.

  6. Jean-Marie Says:
    January 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    @ Ted, JoAnn and Jean-Pierre:
    Many thanks indeed for your support!

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