Computer errors

[Somebody17]

Why do computer crash so often?

[rojash]

Mine doesn't

[d0gsb0dy]

Do you defrag your hard drive fairly frequently? Have you got a good anti-spyware programme running? Also, what platform are you running on? Programmes like Windows ME are inherently unstable.
Download, update and run:
Spybot Search and Destroy (Don't forget to immunize after downloading updates)
Spywareblaster.
CW Shredder.
Avast anti-virus (an excellent piece of kit with automatic updates)
The nice thing is, they are all free.
Hope this helps.

[Zen]

Have you checked your hidden settings ?
details here,
http://www.keepmebusy.com/2188_HiddenSettings. html

[vehelpfulguy]

They certainly do not crash as often as they do.

But if you bear in mind that data is flying around from hard disk to memory to CPU and back again at a very fast rate it is not surprising.

Data is also travelling all over the motherboard along BUS routes from graphics card and network card and USB card and so on. Again at an amazing speed.

Because of the speed of all this data, it only has to "miss" by a fraction of a second and it can all go wrong.

Also bear in mind your computer CPU is doing MILLIONS of computer instructions a second, every second it is working.

Also note that you have a combination of hardware and software, and data is being passed between the two all the time.

Also note that you could go out and buy all the components that make up a PC (motherboard, memory, CPU, hard disk, CD drive, graphics card etc) all from different companies, put them together, install some software, and it should all work.

Pretty amazing that it works at all in my book.

[gary baldy]

PCs crash because PCs are like putting a Ford gearbox on a Vauxhall engine in a Rover body and then you put petrol and diesel in the same tank.
Buy a Mac - they never crash because Mac put everything together and they make the software aswell.
BUY A MAC!

[tomd]

Macs are good for professional video / audio / graphics editing, but if you're buying one for home office, multimedia and web browsing then you're paying though the nose for something that's less compatible, no more stable and very expensive to upgrade.

For the exact reason you mention, that they make all the parts and software, you would have thought they'd be able to do it better than they have.

[rojash]

It's interesting, gary baldy, that when Mac users have always proclaimed the superiority of the Mac OS and hardware. And yet, of course, a few years ago Apple released a new version of the operating system which is in fact just their proprietary brand of Unix. And now the latest Macs use the same architectur as the PC.

Now I'm not saying they are good or bad, I'm just curious as to why they have droppped all the features that supposedly made them superior?

A modern Mac is just a PC running Unix.

[Catso]

Nobody has mentioned the fact that modern software is just so complicated. Despite what manufacturers would have you believe, it's impossible to even think up every possible scenario and sequence of events, let alone actually test them all.

[WoWo]

"Buy a Mac - they never crash because Mac put everything together and they make the software aswell.
BUY A MAC! "

I have a Mac and a PC, the Mac has crashed more times than the PC has (twice the mac, the PC never).

Having said that rojash comments are also wrong (or misleading). The Mac hardware is closely controlled so that in effect there are only a small number of possible configurations, this means that the software can be written to deal with these exact requirements. With a PC any number of combinations can be made and thats why a PC might have a tendancy to crash more.

[fo3nix]

rojash: yes, it is. But the unix underpinnings aren't the only important things for the Mac. The importance is the implementation of it, and the interface. Mac OS X beats XP on many levels. The main failings of it is its lack of support for new games and certain software, and also its slowness.

tomd: this isn't quite as true as it was a few years ago. If you price up a very similar system as the iMac for example, you#'ll find they aren't that much more expensive, if at all. Also, these price comparisons never take into account the software: Mac OS X saves you time and money by not causing as many headaches as XP brings its users.

somebody: computers crash because the software on them is poorly written. What gary boldy says also has something to do with it: Windows has to support many different peripherals and components, and this can lead to confusion sometimes.

My computer, having said that, doesn't crash that often. In fact I can't remember the last time the computer itself did crash.

[rojash]

fo3nix, what you say is true of course. I have to confess that I was trolling for Mac and PC fanatics - me, I'm a pragmatist.

[fo3nix]

Macs often get a raw deal, for being expensive or only for graphic artists or something. It used to be a lot more true than it is now.