How to Fix Computer Slowdowns and Hangs

There are many reasons for slowdowns and hangs of your computer.
For this you have to try out several solutions and the actual cause to it.
There are some basic steps that you should perform in case of slowdowns and hangs.
Moreover you don't require any
external software.

Step 1. 
Free up memory on your hard drive if
your computer is performing slower than usual. A hard drive that is near capacity can
cause the computer to significantly slow down. 
Delete any files you no longer use. You also can use the "Disk Cleanup" utility built into your computer. 
To launch this utility, click
"Start," "All Programs," "Accessories," "System
Tools," and "Disk Cleanup."
A list of files is presented in a dialog box. Click the check box
next the files you want to delete and then click the "OK" button at the bottom of the
dialog box to activate the utility.

Step 2. 
Observe your computer and pinpoint a
program or combination of programs that
are running when it freezes. There might be a specific program responsible for freezing or
crashing your computer. 
Try terminating that specific program and seeing if that fixes the problem. 
To terminate a program, click "CTRL," "ALT," and "DEL" on your keyboard.
This shortcut opens a window listing the currently
running programs on your computer.
Choose a program and click the "End Process" button
to terminate the program.

Step 3. 
Defragment your computer's files.
Fragmented files occur when parts of a single
file are stored in multiple places on the hard drive.
This causes a computer to perform
slowly because the computer must search in
multiple places when accessing a fragmented file.
To defragment your computer, click "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories," "System
Tools," and "Disk Defragmenter."

Step 4. 
Scan your computer for malicious files.
Viruses or spyware often cause your computer to slow down or freeze.
Use the virus scanner that is installed on your
computer.
If you don't have a virus scanner
installed on your computer, there are online virus scanners available. After you have
completed a virus scan, your results are displayed. 
The most desirable option is to
delete any viruses or spyware that was found on your computer.
Follow the virus scanner's
prompts to delete the virus. However, not all
viruses can simply be deleted. 
In this case,
choose the "Quarantine" option in the virus scanner.
This places the file in a separate
folder or location on the drive where it can't affect other files

Step 5. 
Repair any disk errors. Disk errors can cause your computer to slow down and freeze.
You can use a utility on your computer
to detect and fix disk errors. To do this, first
open "My Computer." Right-click on the hard
drive you want to repair and click
"Properties." Click the "Tools" tab and then
click the "Check Now" button. Select the check
box next to "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors."
Then click the "Start" button and
the utility detects and repairs bad sectors.

Step 6. 
Reboot your computer if your
computer freezes. Hold down the "Power"
button on the computer for at least five seconds.
Wait for the computer to shut down and restart the computer. This is usually a
temporary fix, but will at least unfreeze your
computer
Additional Precautions :
Back up the data on your computer if your
computer is slow or freezing often. To back
up data, plug in an external hard drive or
insert a CD or DVD and copy important files
onto the storage device.
You can simply drag the files from your computer into the storage device's folder.
You also can use the Windows
backup and restore utility. Open the backup
and restore utility in Windows from the
"Control Panel" and follow the prompts to
create an entire clone of your hard drive.
Try not to reboot your computer by holding
down the "Power" button too often as this
can destabilize the operating system...