What do I do when a device freezes?

A frozen device is usually one program consuming everything rather than a system failure. That matters because closing one application loses one document, whereas a forced restart loses everything unsaved.

Step by step

1. Wait sixty seconds.Genuinely. A lot of freezes are a process finishing something heavy, and it comes back on its own. Immediately reaching for the power button costs you work unnecessarily.
2. Check whether the whole device is frozen.Move the mouse, try switching apps, check the clock is still updating. If only one app is stuck, you can close just that one.
3. Force-close the frozen app.Task Manager on Windows, Force Quit on Mac, swipe away on a phone. It loses that app's unsaved work and nothing else.
4. Disconnect recently attached hardware.A faulty USB device or external drive can hang a whole system. Unplugging it sometimes releases it immediately.
5. Try the keyboard if the mouse is dead.Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Alt-Delete or Cmd-Option-Escape often respond when the pointer does not, which lets you close things cleanly.
6. Force restart as a last resort.Hold the power button for ten seconds. This is an abrupt cut and can occasionally corrupt open files, which is why it comes last.
7. Note what you were doing.If it freezes repeatedly, the pattern identifies the cause — a particular app, a website, or a device being plugged in.
8. Investigate if it becomes a habit.Repeated freezing suggests failing storage, insufficient memory, overheating or a faulty app. One freeze is noise; a weekly one is a signal.

Tips

• Turn on autosave everywhere you can. It removes most of the cost of a freeze.
• If it freezes during the same task every time, that application is the cause. Update or reinstall it before suspecting the device.
• Repeated freezes on an older machine often mean the storage drive is failing. Back up immediately if you suspect that.

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