Why XP Computer Hangs Happen So Often
It is fair to say that any XP computer running today has probably been running for 5 to 10 years already. In computing terms, it probably exceeded its expected lifespan but Vista was a poor upgrade so many people hung onto their XP computer rather than make the switch. This article looks at the main downside to the prolonged use of XP, namely that it is more prone to hanging and freezing.
With an aging operating system, there has been more time for hackers to work out the security flaws in your XP computer and come up with effective virus attacks. Most XP computers got more stable since service pack 2 but it is still highly recommended to keep running Windows Update as part of your computer repair and maintenance tasks, use a firewall when online and scan for viruses as often as you can.
With older computers it is increasingly likely to experience software compatibility issues. Many software houses will test principally on the most current operating system of the day so running new applications on an XP computer could cause a hang. Check with the application creator’s site to see if there are other customers reporting XP related problems, if workarounds exists or they have minimum system requirements for their applications.
Finally, your XP computer may have had enough disk space, memory and CPU to handle the applications it ran back in 2002. But in 2010, even websites can put a lot of demands on RAM and disk space. For example, flash based websites containing advertisements or video content can result in huge streaming download and caching.
Try to alleviate this happening by increasing the paging file size on your XP computer, closing down any services or applications you don’t need to have running in the background, limit the amount of visual effects that the operating system has enabled (Control Panel/ System/ Performance Options) and keep 10% hard drive space free for Windows to operate properly.
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