Computer memory is composed of several chips placed together on a stick. If one of those chips on the memory stick goes bad, it could cause a computer to freeze because the operating system is expecting that memory space to be available.

A hard drive disk is composed of spinning metal plates with a metal arm that reads/writes data to the drive, Since it is mechanical, it is prone to failure. As such, hard disk drive manufacturers have what's called a MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure). Usually, it's in the range of hundreds of thousands of hours, but it's not a guarantee. If the operating system attempts to read/write data to a hard drive that has started to physically fail, it could cause a computer freeze or crash.

Other reasons for crashes and freezes include clicking on malicious links or attempting to use modern software on an older computer.The most common reason that people's computers have problems is because they try to do 2010 tasks on a 2003 computer. We have a lot of computers that are way past their warranty, and they install programs that were never meant to run on hardware of that age. Once they install and open that program, they also have various other programs running in the background, such as multiple Internet browser windows or Word documents.

Preventive measures
The primary advice from tech experts is to always save your documents regularly in case sudden disaster strikes.

A few simple steps that can help deter computer failures and prolong its life:

--Keep your anti-virus subscription up-to-date and download the latest updates.

--Download and install the latest updates for your operating system (Windows or Mac).

-- If a website or email looks suspicious or asks for personal or banking information, do not click any links contained within the email or website.

What to do:

In the event of a crash, the best thing to do first is reboot. This simple step is often overlooked. “Most calls start with, ‘Have you restarted the computer?’….This is the easiest troubleshooting step. If rebooting fails to work and the computer is “dead,” so to speak, your last best hope may be a professional computer technician. With hope, they can diagnose the problem, and if all else has failed, help salvage your data.