A few years gone most freezes were due to hardware that was installed and as it seems, the hardware wasn't compatible with the system it is installed on. For example, a sound card designed for Windows 3.11installed on Windows 3.1 could create all sorts of issues including freeze ups.

Today's Version of Hardware Incompatibility
These varieties of issues aren't common any more, but mismatched device drivers are common. Sometimes a mismatched driver will result in a freeze up every fortnight or so. Sometimes they're going to be lots more frequent. Drivers are installed when any new hardware is installed on a computer system. Infrequently they are going to be perfect when they're first installed, but because Windows updates will make changes in the operating software and not the drivers, a mismatch will happen sometime down the road. Anyway, Mismatched drivers cause truer freeze ups than any other computer problem.

Fixing driver issues was once very difficult. Now nonetheless due to a great new device called a driver scanner, it is easy. Not merely will a trusty driver scanner seek out the difficulty. It'll upgrade the driver too. Great!

Viruses and Spyware
The second thing that has to be discussed is viruses and spyware. The general public does have at least a pathogen scanner installed on their computer. Most pathogen scanners will scan for and find most spyware but only some of it. Hence if you think spyware get a free spyware scan to make certain you are spyware free because this stuff may cause computer issues even though it is purloining your identity.

When spyware or viruses are causing freeze ups they usually aren't infrequent like freeze ups driver mismatches cause. These freeze ups will make your computer hard to use in any way.

Registry Corruption Causes Registry Errors
Last though not least when it comes down to freezing a computer is corruption in the registry. An operating system's registry is essentially what makes it go. All of the info about users, programs, hardware and even the OS. It is contained in the registry. When the registry becomes corrupt it might not have the info it should and that the OS will not be able to finish what it was doing. Without understanding what to try next, the computer will just freeze, or as is more often the situation, stop and throw a mistake message up on the screen.

Simpler than even running a pathogen, spyware or driver scanner is running a registry cleaner. A registry cleaner is a tool mandatory for keeping our operating systems, particularly Windows XP and Vista registries running fast, error-free and without freezing.