Thirdly, you can opt for a third-party driver utility program that scans your computer for any missing or corrupted driver files and then installs the latest drivers on your system. You can use such an application for updating your graphics drivers. These programs do charge a bit for their service. But it will be a worthy investment as you don’t need to worry about any driver related issues in your system again.
Reset the Winsock Catalog:
This is a small fix that has solved the problem for some Windows users.
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “cmd” in it and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
- When the UAC pop up shows up, click on Yes.
- In the command prompt window, enter the following command and press the Enter key.
netsh winsock reset
If resetting the winsock catalog does not solve your problem, go for the next solution mentioned below.
Clean Boot:
Clean boot lets the system boot up with no third-party programs running in the background. If the error is showing up due to a third-party program, it should be resolved with a clean boot.
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “msconfig” in it and click on Ok.
- In the system configuration window, click on the “Services” tab.
- Check the box next to “Hide all Microsoft services” and then click on the Disable all button.
- Then click on the Startup tab on top, and then click on “Open Task Manager.”
- In the Startup tab of Task Manager, right-click on each of the programs that show up and choose “Disable.”
- Now, close the Task Manager window and click on Ok in the Startup tab of the system configuration window.
Now restart your computer. If you still encounter an error, go for the next solution mentioned below.
Increase Virtual Memory:
Virtual Memory acts as the additional bit of memory when the actual memory or RAM is filled with applications. The TEMP storage on the hard disk comes into play to provide additional memory to the system to ensure that the applications currently running on the system don’t run out of memory. Many users were able to get rid of many errors in Windows by increasing the virtual memory.
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “sysdm.cpl” in it and click on Ok.
- In the system properties window, naviagte to Advanced > Settings > Advanced > Change.
- Uncheck the box next to “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.”
- Choose “Custom Size” and set the Initial Size to 1000 and Maximum Size to 8192(8GB).
- Click on Ok for all the open windows, and you will see a pop up to restart your computer after that.
- Click on Restart Now and let your computer restart itself to save the changes.
If increasing the virtual memory also does not solve your error, go for the next potential solution.
Uninstall specific programs:
When Windows rolls out an update, certain Windows applications become incompatible. If you have one of the incompatible programs installed on your computer and the system tries to run but fails to do so, you will see an error message. Many users have reported a few applications and if you have any of the mentioned applications, uninstall them.
- Speccy.
- Acronis True Image (2015).
- Kaspersky.
Some other applications might also be at fault too. So far, we only have information about these applications. If something else comes along, we will update it here.
If you do not have any of these applications, or uninstalling incompatible programs do not do you any good, try the next potential solution.
Turn Off Link State Power Management:
Link State Power Management or LSPM is a power-saving utility built into a Windows system. It comes with two modes: Moderate Power Savings and Maximum Power Savings. Moderate Power savings save less power but recover quickly from the sleep state. On the other hand, Maximum Power Savings save more power but recovers slowly from the sleep state. But having this feature turned off solves many system freeze and crash issues with Windows, especially the ones with an NVIDIA GPU. So try disabling this feature and check whether that solves your problem.
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “powercfg.cpl” in it and click on Ok.
- Click on “Change Plan Settings” next to your active plan.
- Then click on “Change Advanced Power Settings.”
- In the window that opens up, scroll and find the option PCI Express.
- Click on it to expand it and set the Link State Power Management under it to “Off.”
Now try using your system normally again. If you face the same issue again, try the next solution mentioned below.
Turn Off Fast Startup:
Fast startup is a feature that is turned on by default in a Windows system. It allows the operating system to boot up quickly, but it also works against the user as it sometimes causes the Windows system to crash or freeze. So try disabling this feature to fix your Windows crash issue.
- Press Windows Key + X and choose “Power Options” from the list of options that show up.
- Click on “Additional Power settings.”
- Then click on “Choose what the power buttons do” in the left pane of the Power Options window.
- Click on “Change settings that are currently unavailable.”
- When the UAC pop up shows up, click on Yes.
- Uncheck the box next to Turn on Fast Startup.
If turning off Fast Startup also did not solve your issue, try the next potential solution.
Check Hard Disk for Issues:
If you have tried all the solutions mentioned above, you should consider that there might be something wrong with the hard drive. In that case, you need to perform a disk check on your system drive(the drive where windows is installed).
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “cmd” in it and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
- In the command prompt window, enter the following command and press Enter.
chkdsk C: /f
- Here, C: refers to the drive you want to check. Since Windows is installed in the C drive by default, we have included C here. If you have Windows installed in a different drive, change C to the drive’s letter where you have Windows installed on your system.
- Let the check process complete, and then if there are any errors, they will be fixed.
If that does not solve your problem, then go for the next possible solution.
Remove Temporary Files:
Windows applications create temporary files in a temp folder. These files help the system load up applications quicker than usual, helping the user get a seamless experience. However, if these temporary files are corrupted, that might lead to system freeze or crash issues. So try deleting the files in the temporary folder and check whether that solves your problem.
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “temp” in it and click on Ok.
- When the temporary folder opens up, select all the files and press Shift + Delete and then Enter to delete these temporary files permanently.
If that solves your problem, then it was a corrupted temporary file that was causing the system to crash or freeze. However, if you still face the same issues, try the next potential solution.
Disable “C-States” in BIOS:
C-states is a power-saving feature that is enabled by default in the BIOS menu. Change it to disabled, and then try using your system again.
- Restart your computer, and when it is booting, press the Setup key to open up the BIOS setup. Different manufacturers set up different keys as the setup key. It can be the F12, F2, F1, Del or Esc key. It is usually displayed on the bottom of the screen right away when you turn on your computer. So check what key shows up as the setup key when you turn on your computer and press it.
- Once you are on the BIOS Setup page, you need to use the navigation(arrow) keys on your keyboard to navigate around the Setup page. The mouse pointer won’t be functional here.
- Use the arrow keys to navigate to the “Advanced” tab and then select the “CPU Configurations” option.
- Inside the CPU configuration, disable both the “C1E function” and the “Intel (R) C State Function.” To do that, use your arrow keys to go to that option and press the Enter key. Here, change the option from Enabled to Disabled.
- Now, exit the BIOS setup menu and remember to save your changes before you exit the page.
- Let your computer boot up completely, and then check whether the issue is resolved or not.
If your system freezes or crashes again, go for the next potential solution mentioned below.
System’s that have Broadcom network adapter uses the Broadcom network adapter driver software supplied by Broadcom. But this driver software is not compatible with many builds of Windows 10. So if you have a system with such a network adapter, you should switch the driver software from the Broadcom one to Microsoft. You don’t need to try this solution if you don’t use a network adapter from Broadcom. And switching over to the Microsoft driver software is simple too. You don’t need to download anything additionally. Microsoft’s driver software for Broadcom network adapters is present in a Windows operating system by default.
- Press Windows Key + X and choose “Device Manager” from the list of options that show up.
- In the Device Manager window, double-click in the network adapters section to expand it.
- Find the Broadcom network adapter in the list of adapters that show up here and right-click on it.
- Choose Properties in the context menu.
- Click on the Driver tab and then click on Update Driver.
- Choose the option ” Browse my computer for driver software.”
- Then click on “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.”
- You should see options for the driver software for your Broadcom network adapter here. Click on the Microsoft variant here and then click on Next.
- Wait for Windows to complete the driver software installation and then restart your computer.
If, even after changing the network adapter’s driver, you are still experiencing crashes and freezes in your system, go for the next potential solution mentioned below.
Turn Off Location Services:
When the location services are turned in a Windows system, it will try to report some things to Microsoft. This, in some systems, has been the primary cause of crashes and freezes. So try turning it off and then check with your system again.
- Press Windows Key + X and choose “Settings” from the list of options that show up.
- Go to “Privacy.”
- In the privacy settings window, click on the location tab in the left pane of the window.
- Click on the change button under the “Location for this device is on” option.
- Change the toggle from on to off.
If you are still experiencing crashes and freezes in your system even after disabling the location services, go for the next potential solution mentioned below.
Free up Disk Space on the System Disk:
Having low free space on the system disk drive often leads to the operating system crashing and freezing from time to time. To fix that, you need to ensure that you have enough free storage in the disk drive where you have installed the operating system. You can move some of your non-system files from your system drive to another drive to free up some space. You can even use a third-party program that checks drivers for any temporary files and deletes them. Temporary or corrupted, or incomplete download files often take up a lot of your storage.
If freeing up the system drive also did not solve your system crash and freeze issue, go for the next potential solution.
Scan with SFC:
System File Checker or SFC is a built-in Windows utility that checks your system files for any possible corruption. It even checks whether all the files are in place or not. If any system file is corrupted or missing, it will try to fix it.
- Press Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialog box.
- Enter “cmd” in it and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
- When the UAC pop up shows up, click on Yes.
- In the command prompt window, enter the following command and press the Enter key:
sfc /scannow
- Wait till the process completes, and then restart your computer.
If using System File Checker did not solve your system crash and freeze issue, try the next potential solution mentioned below.
Change Hard Disk settings:
Sometimes, the problem could be the power settings for your hard disk too. You can change this particular power setting and see if that works for you.
- Press Windows Key + X and choose “Power Options” from the list of options that show up.
- Click on “Additional Power settings.”
- Click on the “Change Plan Settings” option next to your currently selected plan.
- Click on “Change advanced power settings.”
- In the power options advanced settings window, click on Hard Disk to expand it.
- Under “turn off hard disk after”, set everything to Never.
- Click on Apply and then click on Ok.
- Then restart your computer.
After making changes to hard disk power options, if you still encounter a screen freeze or crash issue, try the next potential solution mentioned below.
Restore to a previous point:
Windows has an option of rolling back everything on the system to a previous point. This comes in handy if anything goes wrong in the system and you need things to go back to the way they were before. In the case of the system freeze or crash issue after the latest Windows 10 update, you can try system restore to roll back the system to the point of time when the update was not installed, and the system was free of errors. This rollback will mean any changes to the system you have made since that point will be rolled back, which includes changes to system settings, program installations, etc.
- Click on the search bar next to the start button and search for “Create a restore point.”
- Once it shows up in the results, open it up.
- Click on “System Restore” in the system properties window that pops up.
- You will see the system restore setup wizard show up on your screen. Click on Next.
- Now, you will see a list of restore points for your computer. Click on a restore point of your choice, one with a date that takes your system back to a state when you were not encountering sudden freeze and crash issues with your system.
- Finally, click on Next and let the process complete.
Once you have restored your system, the system crash and freeze issue should not show up again. The system restore will also roll back the recent Windows update completely. So any new Windows features that you liked with the new version won’t be there anymore. However, if it does show up again, try the next potential solution.
Clean Install Windows 10:
Clean installing Windows on a computer should be the last possible solution for this problem. This will mean that your entire system will be wiped out, and you will have to set up everything again. You will have to install the programs again, you will have to set up the settings again according to your preference, and more. But clean installing Windows all over again gets rid of any software related issue on a Windows computer. So if none of the solutions mentioned above worked for you, then perform a clean install of Windows.
You need to keep a backup of every important file to you before going ahead with the clean install. A clean install will result in you formatting the entire drive, and if you don’t back up the important data, you will lose it. You can either use a cloud storage service or an external storage device to store all your important files before initiating the clean install.
Once you are ready with the backup, use the Windows installation media(CD or USB) to clean install Windows on to your system all over again.
Even after clean installing Windows 10 on your computer, if you still encounter system freeze or crash issue, then you can be sure that this problem is showing up because of a hardware problem. Maybe it is your hard drive that is at fault, or maybe it is your RAM. No matter what it is, you need to take your computer to the nearest service centre and check all your hardware components’ status. Replace the components where there is any problem, and Windows should start running on your computer again without any problems.
This is all that one can do to fix the random crash issue faced by many Windows users after the new Windows 10 update. If you have any questions or queries about this article, then comment down below, and we will get back to you. Also, be sure to check out our other articles on iPhone tips and tricks, Android tips and tricks, PC tips and tricks, and much more for more useful information.
