What to do if your Windows computer freezes

Restarting the Windows graphics subsystem

Windows has a secret key combination to restart the graphics card driver. If your computer freezes and the screen does not move, try using it instead of a forced restart. The method works in Windows 10 and Windows 8.

Click on the keyboard Win + Ctrl + Shift + B … The screen will turn off for a split second and you will hear a beep. Then the image will reappear. All applications will remain open unchanged.

The keyboard shortcut works regardless of whether your computer is equipped with a graphics card: NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel. This combination helps to recover from freezes that occur, for example, when starting resource-intensive games or when waking up the computer from sleep mode.

Other ways to get rid of freezes

If during operation you are faced with a suddenly appearing black screen or motionless image, try the combination Ctrl + Alt + Delete … You can also click Ctrl + Shift + Escto open Task Manager and stop the frozen process. Or click Alt + Tab or Win + Tabto switch from the frozen application to the Desktop.

If your computer does not respond to all of these keyboard shortcuts and restarting the graphics driver does not help, you will have to forcibly turn off and turn on the device. To do this, press and hold the power button for about ten seconds until the computer turns off. Wait a few seconds, then turn on the computer again. Use this method only as a last resort, if nothing else remains.

Of course, if you see a blue screen of death, no keyboard shortcuts will help. It indicates fatal Windows errors, and all you can do is restart your computer. Google the error code displayed on the screen, or scan the QR code, so you at least get an idea of what happened.