Common Causes of Windows Instability

You’ll discover that many of the usual suspects in PC problems are also most likely to create instability in Windows. These include the following, many of which have been covered in earlier chapters:

• Improper or corrupted original Windows installation

• Continuing to run a beta or pre-release version of Windows well past the time the full version is released

• A history of unsuccessful upgrades (you’ve tried and failed to upgrade Windows)

• Hardware and drivers that are not compatible with your current version of Windows

• Using the wrong driver for a piece of hardware or software

• Failing or failed hardware

• Conflicts between different hardware components (for example, a sound card and network interface card sharing the same resources), usually seen as a yellow mark on a listed device in Device Manager

• Conflicts between two or more applications that are running

• Poor system maintenance (You don’t defragment the hard drive, you don’t clean up temporary files on the drive, or you don’t use ScanDisk in earlier versions of Windows or Chkdsk in Windows XP.)

• Bad Registry editing (This often happens when someone reads about a performance tweak they can make to the Registry that ends up costing them overall performance rather than improving it.)

• Overheating

• Overclocking (a process by which you adjust hardware and software settings to try to maximize the speed and performance of your system)

• Trying to run a second operating system from the same hard drive as your first operating system without partitioning the disk

• Corrupted BIOS

• Virus

  Tip 

  If you notice a problem first outside of Windows like a damaged cable, a problem with memory counting up at bootup, or a strange sound within your case, investigate and resolve this situation as soon as possible. If Windows begins to behave badly before you correct it, assume until proven otherwise that the problem you’ve seen may be at fault.