Figure out why an application hangs

Last December, it was Word 2007. Two weeks later, it was Outlook 2003. Out of the blue, a program that worked just fine yesterday freezes up today.

A few days ago, I described how to force Windows to close hung applications faster at shutdown. That fix might get you out the door quicker, but it doesn't address the source of the problem.

Unfortunately, determining the source of a hung application usually requires quite a bit of detective work. If the problem is widespread, chances are Microsoft and any other hardware or software vendors affected will do their best to make a fix available as quickly as possible--at least in the computer utopia that exists in my dreams. Most of these mystery freezes are uncommon and specific to a particular PC configuration, such as the driver for a certain model printer conflicting with a recent Windows security update, causing some functions in Windows Explorer to stop working (an instance described in a recent Microsoft knowledgebase article).

Step one: search the error code
When a program conks out, you usually see a window open with some error message, often including a code number. Enter the message and number in your favorite Web search engine and look for a link to an explanation, which may include a fix. This approach is more miss than hit, unfortunately. Gregory Braun's free Error Messages for Windows utility lists Windows error messages by their code numbers, but it doesn't help you find the source of the error.

Look up Windows error messages via the free Error Messages for Windows utility.

(Credit: Software Design--Gregory Braun)

The usual suspects
The most obvious thing to check is for a malware infestation. Update your antivirus program's definitions and perform a full system scan. You're far from certain to discover any problems, but at least you can rule out a virus as the cause.

Often the problem is not the software's fault. Bad memory modules cause many programs to hang. Chris Brady's Memtest86 is a free program that diagnoses memory problems, though it requires that you copy its files to a floppy disk or disk partition, and then run the program from there. Microsoft's Windows Memory Diagnostic loads easier onto a floppy or CD from which you boot to run its tests automatically.

Another common crash culprit is an out-of-date video driver. To find your video-display make and model, right-click My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista) and choose Manage > Device manager > Display adapters. Double-click the entry, choose the Driver tab, and note the driver version. Now visit the vendor's site and look for an update for the driver. (This also applies to drivers for other hardware devices.)

If your browser is crashing, disable your toolbar add-ons one at a time to determine whether one of them is causing the problem. You can disable add-ons in Internet Explorer 7 by clicking Tools > Manage Add-ons > Enable or disable add-ons, and then selecting them one at a time and choosing Disable. When you're done, click OK.

To disable add-ons and toolbars in Mozilla Firefox 2, click Tools > Add-ons, select the add-ons one at a time, and choose Disable.

Find the cause of problems in Internet Explorer 7 by disabling add-ons and toolbars one at a time.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Determine whether an add-on or toolbar is the source of problems in Firefox by disabling them one at a time.

(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)

To report or not to report
The Microsoft Online Crash Analysis site lets you upload your error reports and view an analysis of them, but it requires a Microsoft Passport account (Hotmail, Live, or MSN). You must also send your error reports to Microsoft whenever a crash occurs; most of us click Don't Send out of habit when the dialog box pops up. I had high hopes for this service, but after a recent crash of my XP system (caused by a bad program uninstall), it was no help whatsoever.

To disable error reporting in Windows XP, right-click My Computer, choose Properties > Advanced > Error Reporting, and click Disable error reporting. In Vista, press the Windows key, type Problem Reports and Solutions, and press Enter. Click Change settings in the left pane, choose Advanced settings, and click Change setting to the right of "For all users and programs, problem reporting is set to On." Choose Off, and close all the dialog boxes.

Tomorrow: Microsoft's one-stop shutdown-maintenance utility for XP.

[cnick6]

The last paragraph does not sound like responsible reporting to me.

The OCA service is extremely valuable to getting timely bug fixes for Microsoft and 3rd party products. Microsoft invests *large* sums of money into this service. They not only help Microsoft produce emergency patches and updates, but these reports give 3rd party software and hardware vendors valuable information as to why their software (or device driver) causes a system hang or crash. The long-term OCA data is extremely useful in determining new features and/or changes to future (or existing) Microsoft products. It helps make the product(s) BETTER!

Also, OCA (error reporting) does NOT require any special email account to report a hang/crash. Your first sentence implies this and this is WRONG!

The OCA capture does not send any "confidential" information to Microsoft. It simply sends out useful system information at the time of the crash (services running, device drivers present, etc.) which is mandatory to debug these failures.

If you disable OCA (error reporting) in XP or Vista, then *you* are just as responsible for the instability of applications and device drivers in Windows.

[doreilly]

If I buy a car with a bad cruise controller, for example, am I responsible for helping the manufacturer fix the problem? I expect the products I buy to work as advertised when used within normal operating parameters.

Here's the message I get whenever I attempt to log into the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis service:

"To use the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Web site, sign in using your Microsoft Passport. To get a Passport, visit the Microsoft Passport Web site. Click here to view the Microsoft.NET Passport Privacy statement."

You can report errors without a Passport account, but to use the personalized crash-analysis service, you have to sign in with such an account. Here's a link to the sign-in page:

https://oca.microsoft.com/en/secure/status.aspx

It's up to Microsoft to sell products that work correctly right out of the "box", and that continue to work when used normally. Any company that sells products that don't work will eventually find its customers choosing to do business with its competitors. Why am I responsible for the reliability of the products I buy?

Dennis

[CompFieldTech]

You've made some pretty broad assumptions there with your malware suspect. If there is a rootkit and/or your antivirus has been compromised, then it wouldn't show up. The best way to scan for malware is from a bootable CD that scans for malware and rootkits. Since advertising software is prohibited, I won't be able to point you to the detection software. But it is out there on the Internet.

I also agree wtih cnick. The On-line Crash Analysis does **NOT** require a hotmail/live e-mail account. Telling people it does is wrong. You also admitted that a bad uninstall caused the problem. If it's not a Microsoft product, then how can you blame Microsoft for the crash? I can write a program that just chews up memory all available memory. Are you going to blame Microsoft for writing XP/Vista so that it allows programs to gain access to more memory?

[doreilly]

Here's the message I get whenever I attempt to log into the service:

"To use the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Web site, sign in using your Microsoft Passport. To get a Passport, visit the Microsoft Passport Web site. Click here to view the Microsoft.NET Passport Privacy statement."

You can report errors without a Passport account, but to use the personalized crash-analysis service, you have to sign in with such an account. Here's a link to the sign-in page:

https://oca.microsoft.com/en/secure/status.aspx

The crash examples I provided in the first paragraph are all Microsoft products, so I expect them to work without crashing Windows. And if the company provides a service that purports to help me diagnose crashes, I think it's reasonable for the service to work with programs other than its own.

If malware scans need to be done from a bootable CD, why are we spending so much money for antivirus and anti-spyware services that run in Windows?

When a product is used within normal operating parameters and doesn't work as advertised, I expect the vendor of that product to take responsibility for the failure, regardless of the cause.

Dennis

[cnick6]

You're confusing "personalized crash analysis" with OCA/Error Reporting. The PCA is a tool that lets subscribers view data collections submitted by their system(s). I believe this also lets Microsoft contact the user of the system should further trouble-shooting be needed. OCA/Error-reporting (click to send) is NOT the same thing. This is simply the collection tool that collects the data and sends it to the Microsoft OCA servers. Having users not send this data to Microsoft (or disabling error-reporting) is foolish. Where do you think Service Pack fixes come from? Yes, from the OCA-collected data. If users don't submit this data, then Microsoft (or the 3rd party) can't fix the problem.

[yepperdepper]

With all of your misinformation you remind me of another O'Reilly.

[doreilly]

Please be specific about the "misinformation" you're referring to.

Dennis

[doreilly]

Please be specific about the "misinformation" you're referring to.

Dennis

[BadLag]

Malware rarely causes programs to crash, it may slow down the machine....Using the Event Viewer and Process Explorer is enough to diagnose almost any issue with a PC. All MS software has a repair function built into the software to re-install the system files. There is no one piece of software to find or prevent all instances of Spyware/Malware/AdWare....here is a good stat, F-Secure has been recording all examples of malware, in 20 years they found 250,000 examples, in 2007 alone, they found ANOTHER 250,000, there is no way for a software company to keep up......I have no antivirus or anti spyware program on my personal computer and have never had a problem, a firewall and education is all you need!!!!!

[BALTHOR1]

Software should never hang or crash.The 13 root servers are gone and you are now seeing a Government based Internet.Virus on the Internet,in software and computers is evidence of a terrorist group.It's true virus is terrorist.Terrorism is al-Qaeda and suicide bombings.The terrorists have a large invading telephone system that ties into everything that is the Internet.Panda scans for almost two million virus.This is hardly a couple of kids just playing around. If there is anything ever wrong with a computer it's a virus.

[tikoro]

BALTHOR1:
Are you on drugs by chance?
Anything wrong with a computer is a virus? So, by that statement, if the keyboard is not plugged in, and it won't boot up as a result of that, it must be a virus. Get a life, seriously. This is a site dedicated to educating and helping people, not feeding crap information.

That said...everyone else bagging on the article, it's an article, like anything else you read, take it with a grain of salt. No, it's not going to be perfect and no it's not going to tell you everything you will ever need to resolve an application lock problem. If someone could actually write an article that would, you'd spend your entire life reading it.

[ferty81]

BALTHOR1: Yeah, are you smoking something? al Qaeda is the cause of my computer or Internet browser hanging? You've got to be kidding me. Ever heard of a coding error? A glitch? And yes,sometimes it is a kid (teenager) just playing around. Also, there's worms, spyware, etc. not just viruses (lol).

P.S. I don't think computer viruses have a lot to do with suicide bombing and radical Islam.