In earlier versions of Windows if a program froze (hung, locked-up) there was nothing you could do about but kill the program using Task Manager/Processes/End Process. But Windows 7 users have at least a shot at un-freezing the program – plus you may get a nifty explanation of the problem too. And using this method to unlock or un-freeze a program will allow you recover the program without loosing any data. Keep in mind this does not work all of the time, but it does work some of the time and that’s a much better chance than you had in earlier versions of Windows. In those earlier versions, you had no chance to unlock a frozen program at all.
The next time you have an application that is frozen or hanging, do this:
Click Start, type RESMON in the start menu search.
When RESMON.EXE appears at the top click it to launch the Resource Monitor.
Switch to the CPU tab (this tab should be the default) and find your frozen program which should be easy since it will be highlighted in red. Right-click on the application and choose “Analyze Wait Chain”.
If you see at least two processes in the list, the one that is furthest down is the one instance of the program that is hanging. Before proceeding — just to be safe — save any open work in any other programs you may have open. Now, you’re ready to proceed, right? Check the box next to the hanging process (program), click “End Process”, and your frozen, locked-up program should come back to life.
Your tip I’m sure is correct, but I don’t have a frozen program to try it out. I have had 3 frozen programs here recently, but your info wouldnt help me since it freezes my task bar down below where I can’t get to any thing to click on START. But I’m sure it will help other people who have had frozen programs. You do a wonderful job in giving us all this information and I have save lots and lots of your advice. Thank you.
This is good advice, but if a program does freeze all is frozen and nothing will move, what I have done is ,Crl Alt Delete and I am up and running.This could help some other,s.
Rarely does one program locking, freeze the entire system. Rather, this is a symptom normally seen in computers which do not have enough RAM.