Living in the digitalized and mostly tech-operated world –especially after COVID-19 – is a true blessing for most people. We now work from home, take classes, lectures, and meetings online and even plan meetups on digital platforms. Laptop freezes are an issue that can get you in trouble if you are working on something important or you were about to do something important. They can freeze anytime and if you had not saved your data already, this is troublesome.
Well in this article, we cannot say anything about how to retrieve lost data but we surely can help you with your main issue in the hand, laptop freeze.
What is laptop freeze?
We will discuss now what exactly a laptop freeze looks like. If you are using an application, let’s say you are using a notepad, suddenly it stops responding, it can be assumed as a laptop freeze. On the other side, it can also look like if your computer is entirely not responding to any command you are giving it or your laptop is stuck at the login point. Your laptop freezes entirely or just one application is not working, it can even cost you some data if it is forced shut or you did not save it by the time. So always, be prepared and try to press CTRL + S every 5 seconds when you are working on your assignments or projects. In the worst possible scenario, if you didn’t save your data, your laptop is frozen, and nothing is working out for you, there is a high possibility that you might lose your data.
Why does a freeze happen?
Due to numerous reasons, your HP laptop keeps freezing. Software, as well as hardware issues, are the main reason for this kind of issue. Also, usage of many resources, viruses, or malware in your system. You can check your hardware settings, software settings alongside, you can also look for any viruses and malware on your device. All these issues are the main cause of the freeze issue happening in your HP device.
Immediate Solution:
Before we get further, we would like to share a quick and immediate solution for your laptop freeze issue. All these solutions mentioned below are temporary and they can help your get out of trouble if you need immediate help. For the longer run, we would suggest you find the issue in your device and look for some permanent solution. You can also talk with the customer care of your HP laptop if you still have a warranty and they will assist you immediately.
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Close the app:
The very first thing you need to do – if your application is frozen – is to close the app you are using now.
Pro Tip: you can press CTRL + Shift + ESC to bring the task manager.
The task manager provides information about everything that runs on your device. You need to select the frozen application from there and click on the ‘end task’ option available there.
Pro Tip: if you want to close the window directly by using keyboard shortcuts, press ALT + F4
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Restart Windows Explorer:
If closing the app did not work for you, you can try this method of restarting windows explorer. This is not just the old web browser but also the file manager for windows 10.
Open your task manager by clicking CTRL + Shift + ESC. You will see a processes tab there, if you did not find it there, click on the option of ‘more details’ with a downwards arrow. It will take you to a new window here look for windows explorer.
Once you find your windows explorer, highlight it and select the option of restart once again. For the restart, it will take a few seconds. Once done, check if your laptop is unfrozen.
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Restart:
The restart process comes in handy when nothing has worked so far.
If your whole screen is frozen and you are unable to reboot your device by the start menu, you can try pressing CTRL + ALT+ Delete on your keyboard altogether. Now, you will find a power icon on the bottom of your screen. Now, you can click on restart.
By restarting your computer, any glitch will be removed and you will have a fresh start.
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Hard Shutdown:
If nothing worked out so far, your last resort is the hard shutdown. You need to keep in mind that a hard shutdown may result in lost data because windows did not shut down properly.
To do a hard shutdown, press and hold the power button for a few seconds. The screen goes black after a few seconds, and the power button light goes off. Now, wait for a few seconds, and after that again press the power button to restart your computer.
This last resort method is the most effective one and it can get things straight in a few minutes.
Let’s try to findse a solution:
There are a number of ways to fix a laptop freeze in your HP laptop:
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Adjust the power options:
Some of the default settings can cause your entire computer to freeze up. First, you need to do is change your power options settings.
- Go to your windows and press right-click on it
- Search for power options
- On the very right-bottom of this page, you will find the additional power settings
- Now, on the left side you will find an option of ‘choose what the power buttons do’
- You will see some ‘shutdown settings’ there
- You need to make sure that the first two options of ‘turn on fast startup’ and ‘sleep’ are unchecked
- You can enable these options from ‘change settings that are currently unavailable
- Once you click on it, you will be able to uncheck both of the options and save them
- Now, you can modify the plan settings, tap on ‘change plan settings’
- Again, tap on ‘change advanced power settings’
- A new pop-up window will show up, make sure in the topmost drop-down box, high performance is active
- Scroll down and tap on the Intel Graphics Settings. Again tap on it and make sure both settings are on ‘balanced’ mode
- Next setting is PCI Express followed by ‘Link State Power Management’. Now make sure both options are set to off
- Now, save all the changes and exit the Power options window
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Uninstall recently Installed programs:
If you have recently installed some new programs or files on your device, try to uninstall them for good. If you have some programs installed that you do not need anymore. You can uninstall all of them too, it will free some space on your device too.
- Choose the windows option once again and click on the gear-shaped icon, which is settings
- Search for Apps and find out which one among the list you do not use any longer
- To uninstall, click on one program at a time and tap uninstall option given below for each app
- If you need any of these apps in the future, you can simply reinstall them again from the apps option
This will help your free up some space and delete the apps that are no longer in your use. In case if these apps have any malware or virus, they will be removed too from the device once you have uninstalled the application.
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Delete Temp Files
Most computers are loaded with Temp files, which are not of any work and all they do is take up space. This is a very potent reason for laptop freeze.
- Go to your windows and find the app ‘RUN’
- Now you need to type %temp% and click OK
- Select all the files and delete them
- Once you have deleted them successfully, again go to the RUN and this time please add temp and hit OK again
- You may experience a pop up of permission while doing this process, you need to click continue here
- Again, delete all the files available here too
- Now for the third and last time, please go to the RUN again
- This time you need to type prefetch
- Once the folder is opened again, repeat the same process, select all the files available here and delete them once and for all
These three methods are helpful in getting rid of the freeze problem from your HP laptop. It is highly recommended that you do these steps occasionally in order to main your device well. If you want to get help with this activity and want it to happen automatically on its own, there are numerous software available online, you can simply download them on your device. They will keep the track of any viruses or malware and even clean your device for you. There are some software, which are free, and for some of them you need to pay too, but the best thing is that they keep your device perfectly clean updated.
