You have been surfing the net for months, installing programs to check them out and then removing them. As far as you know your computer is working perfectly.

When out of no where, you start receiving error messages. Your pc starts hanging and worst of all; you get the blue screen of death. You quickly think to yourself that you may have picked up a harmful virus or some malicious worm that has affected the performance of your computer.

You run your anti-virus which confidently gives you the all clear!

Then to your horror you receive a message saying "this program performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." So where are these error messages, freezes, and hang-ups coming from if not a virus?

They can be caused by several different problems.

You may have added new hardware that is causing a conflict to your computer components, or may even be defective. Another reason is Electric Static Discharge can have a damaging effect on your computer. You may have installed new software that may have incompatibility issues that can cause problems or it could be a combination of all the above or maybe you have not uninstalled your software programs correctly.

There are several ways you can correct these problems without having to totally format your hard drive. Several programs on the market will help you clean up your computer and get it running properly again. These can be bought either through the Internet or at your local computer retailer.

So what has been damaged?

Every Windows operating system has what is called a registry. That system registry holds the information about your computer hardware and software. You may have software that you are no longer using or software that was not properly uninstalled causing your computer to hang up or freeze up. Removing these and cleaning up the registry will sometimes fix the problems of a sluggish or freezing computer.

The most common problem with computer hang-ups is often caused by your video driver. The video driver will have new components and latest drivers that your computer may not be able to handle. You can sometimes fix this problem by finding the exact make and model of your video card, then downloading and update and installing the latest drivers from that company's web site.

Sometimes, removing software that you no longer use or uninstalling software and reinstalling will clear up any problems you are experiencing. This is something you should try before trying to reformat. Look at your files, are there any software programs that you no longer need or use? If so, then uninstall them, free up room on your hard drive.

Reformatting your hard drive is not something you should do unless all other avenues have been explored. Clearing and reformatting a hard drive is a huge challenge and if you do it wrong, it will make your computer worthless.

If you have to format first, back up all your important information. Second, make sure you have all the needed software and original CD's and start up disks that came with your computer or laptop purchase. Be sure you have your Windows Certificate of Authenticity at hand also.

You may have a "Restore Disk" that came with your computer or laptop that you can be used. In addition, manufacturers will sometimes provide the system restore information right on the hard drive. Instructions for these methods of reformatting should have been included in your computer package and are specific to each computer manufacturer.

About the Author

Ron is the webmaster of Detecting Adware Spyware and has just finished a review on Registry Fix. Spyware can slow your computer even after it has been removed through orphaned and redundant files. Keep you registry in good working order