So I've just read a few articles in this section and the majority of them are correct in the way you should handle a hang up but I'm going to go a little deeper into this.

The cause of a hang up is usually an unresponsive program. There are several things that can make a program unresponsive, some examples are low virtual memory, not enough RAM (Random Access Memmory) to handle the amount of open programs, or just simply an internal error.

The easiest way to remedy this situation is to press and hold CTRL then ALT and then the DELETE key, this will open up your task manager from there you have a few options.

Option number one is to make sure your on the Applications tab look in the small window below and near the right hand side you will see a header called Status, from there you can look down until you find the program with a status of Not Responding select the program and click end task. This is the most common way but by far not the most effective.

Option number two is to open the Processes tab right beside the Applications tab from there you will see an entire list of things click on Mem Usage on the right hand side of the window, keep clicking it until its arranged from highest numbers to lowest numbers, from there you can look under the CPU heading and find out which number is the highest (Its usually near the top because you clicked on Mem Usage first) select the program and click End Process. You may also want to go to the Applications tab and look at the name of the program with a Status of Not Responding and then return to the Processes tab and look under the Image Name heading until you find that program, then select it and click End Process.

*Warning - Do not close every process under the Processes tab, some of these are system processes which need to keep running in order for your system to work, the ones that are safe to close are the ones with your user name, you can simple click the User Name heading and close the ones with your computers name, any name that says SYSTEM, NETWORK SERVICE, or LOCAL SERVICE should be left running.

The examples here are for Microsoft Windows and not for a Mac, The Mac operating system is different. Even though Microsoft's best operating system has been Windows XP, there are still bugs because every machine is built differently and hopefully as technology advances these bugs will be fixed, lets just hope for the best when Microsoft releases Windows Vista (The Newest Operating System).

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