Frozen screen? Here’s what to do next. January 22, 2018

Has your computer ever just given up in the middle of a task or project? Staring at a frozen screen while you hopelessly jiggle the mouse can be frustrating. Here’s how you should handle a frozen computer:

1. Try pressing the ESC key twice. This is the first course of action, but it may not work.
2. Simultaneously hold down the CTRL, ALT and Delete keys. A menu should come up with an option to open the Task Manager. If the Task Manager appears, it should show you a list of what programs are running including which may be unresponsive. You can then choose to “End Task.”
3. If using Task Manager doesn’t solve the problem, try pressing CTRL + ALT + Delete again and click on the Power icon in the bottom corner of the screen, then restart.
4. If you’re unable to open the menu with CTRL+ALT+Delete, you’ll have to do a hard restart with the computer’s Power button. Sometimes pressing it is enough, but in other cases you may need to hold it down for several seconds before the machine shuts off. Note: If you must go this route, you may lose whatever you were working on before the computer froze.