There are several ways I have experienced a program shutting down and/or
needing to be shut down:
1. The program automatically shuts down with or without a message informing
you that it is shutting down.
2. There is an automatic message informing you that the program is not
responding and giving you the choice to close it down or not. Like you
really have a choice!
3. Using Ctrl/Alt/Del to end the program.

There have been a few instances when the system has frozen, but I have found
if you let it sit for a few seconds to perhaps a minute, the system
recognizes that a program is not responding and will produce a message
allowing you to shut the program down.

The only times the entire system has frozen is when I was using a video card
that was supposed to be compatible with XP and actually was not. Once I
replaced the card, the system has operated without any problems. In those
instances, it appeared that it was a program problem, but upon restart I
would get a message that the system failed because of the video card.
Otherwise I might never have found out why the system was occasionally
freezing up. If you have a recurring problem, you might consider a hardware
rather than a software problem.

Furthermore, if you know it is a particular program problem, make sure that
the program is XP compatible. If not, you can tell XP to run that program in
a compatibility mode for an older OS. I do that through the properties
(right click) associated with the desktop icon. There probably are other
ways.

I hope this all helps. I am not a techie - just another user.

Tom Mayer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Les Barnes" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Windows...Re-Install or Upgrade ??


Tom,

Can you explain how to restart a frozen program? When it does happen I find
I have to shut off the power switch to regain control.

Thanks,
Les Barnes


> I really liked Win98 but XP is far more stable. With 98 the computer would
> have to be restarted after freezing up with certain programs several times
a
> day. With XP the computer has never frozen although programs have frozen
and
> needed to be restarted. Fortunately, XP runs each program in an assigned
> block of memory and only the programs might fail but not the OS
(normally).



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