By Achilles Hill | Last Updated
"Hi, obviously I have a problem with my PC. For some reason whenever I play a game on my computer, it keeps freezing up. This is a relatively new issue because it's never happened before. I either have to manually restart it or it restarts itself in about 30 seconds. I have tried many solutions on the Internet, but nothing seems to work. Do you know why my computer freezes while playing games in Windows 10? How to fix it?"
This guide will discuss the possible reasons why computer freezes when playing games in Windows 10 and teach you how to stop your computer from freezing when playing games. If you are really a big game fan and use your computer to play games very often, you must have once encountered the same or similar problem described as above. It is very frustrating and annoying for game lovers if computer crashes or freezes when playing games. Now let's get started to discuss how to troubleshoot this issue in the following part of this article.
"Why is my computer crashing again and again?" This question may be popped up repeatedly in your mind every time when you are stuck into this issue. Unexpected computer crashing or freezing issue while playing games could ruin the entire game experience. When it comes to what causes your computer freezing or crashing when playing games, the reasons can be various. Generally, it can be summarized as software issues, old drivers, corrupt files, hardware overheating, lacking hardware, viruses and malware… Sometimes it is very hard for you to tell from the exact reason. If you are unable to make it clear which one is the root cause, you can try the below regular solutions one by one to learn how to stop your computer from crashing when playing games.
If your computer has no more enough space to store the temp files, you had better clear them from your computer. Otherwise, these temp files will slow down or freeze your computer when you are playing games. You can check if it is the cause of your problem. Even though it may be not the right reason, it can also do some help to solve this issue. There are quite a few methods to clear temp files in Windows 10. Here is an additional method:
Step 1. Invoke the Run dialog box by press the Windows key and R key simultaneously, type %temp% into the blank and then press the key of Enter to run it. You can check all the temp files there.
Step 2. Select all of these temp files, right-click them, and then choose Delete to remove all of them from your computer.
As we have talked above, the issue that your Windows 10 computer keeps freezing when playing games may be due to system file corruption. In order to avoid this reason, you can run System File Checker to scan and check whether some system files are missing or corrupted. If there are, System File Checker will help you try to repair them.
Step 1. Enter Command Prompt in the Windows search bar, right-click the best-matched result and select Run as administrator. Then click the button of Yes to go on.
Step 2. Type the command of "sfc /scannow" without quotes into the Command Prompt and press the key of Enter on the keyboard in order to run this command.
Step 3. Then System File Checker will start to run a system scan. If there are some missing or corrupted system files, System File Checker will try to repair them. And the process will take some time, so please wait for a while patiently. When the process is completed, restart your computer and check if it has fixed your problem.
As we all know, the driver is one of the most important parts of our system. If the drivers are incompatible with the current windows version, out of date, or get corrupted, this will cause the system to freeze or crash no matter when you are playing games or not. If that is the real reason, you need to go to Device Manager to check your drivers for updates.
Step 1. Access to Device Manager in your computer, double click Display adapters in order to expand it, and then right-click on your device and choose the option of Update Driver from the drop-down menu.
Step 2. Then you will be asked "How do you want to search for drivers", select the option of Search automatically for updated driver software to continue. Windows will search your computer and the Internet for the latest driver software for your device. Complete the step as per the on-screen instructions.
If it fails to pick up any driver update, you can search for the latest driver by going to the hardware manufacturer's website, find the appropriate driver that is compatible with the exact model number of your hardware, as well as your version of Windows, and then download and install it in your computer.
Computer usually freezes up when playing games? One of the possible reasons is a lack of sufficient disk space. Maybe it is time to clean junk files on your computer. You can clean junk files through Setting or using the utility of Disk Cleanup, but that is not comprehensive. You can run a system optimizer like iSunshare System Genius to do an all-round scanning for clean caches, junks, useless files, as well as broken or invalid registry entries, and then delete them with one simple click so as to optimize your PC for maximum performance. Now learn how to use iSunshare System Genius to clean junk files from your computer effectively and conveniently.
Step 1. If you are interested in this software, download iSunshare System Genius in your computer. After proper installation, launch the software and select the function of Clean All on the left side menu, and then click the Scan button to do an all-round scanning for your computer.
Step 2. After the process of scanning is completed, you can check the scan results on the interface. The scan results are divided into two categories: registry scan result and junk file scan result. To release more disk space for your computer, you can click the Clean button to clear all the useless files from your computer.
Doing an overall cleanup for your computer regularly and frequently can benefit your computer to maintain a good, stable and healthy status. So don't be lazy about this matter. If you do it this way, you are less likely to worry about that your computer will freeze when you are playing games.
A virus or other malware may cause your computer to freeze or crash when you are playing games. To check if the malware and virus is the cause of your problem, you should run a thorough virus scan with your antivirus program. Or you can use the built-in utility of Windows Defender or Windows Security to do that for you as well.
Step 1. Launch the tool of Windows Defender or Windows Security in your computer and then select the option of Virus & threat protection to go on.
Step 2. Click the link of Scan options to continue.
Step 3. Choose the option of Windows Defender Offline scan. Then click the button of Scan now to start scanning malware and viruses for your computer.
The next fix for you is to close programs running in the background. When you are playing computer games, the program of the game itself is probably taking the most of your system resources. At this moment, too many additional programs running in the background can also take up a large portion of your computer's operating memory, which will result in sudden shutdown or crashes of your computer. Under this circumstance, you'd better close those unimportant programs eating up processing power or memory of your computer. By the way, maybe some programs start running at the very beginning when your computer boots, but you are easy to neglect them. You can disable them from Task Manager easily.
In the last part, we have talked about how to stop your computer from crashing when playing games. Furthermore, there are several additional points that you should pay attention to. If you don't want your computer to freeze suddenly when you are playing games, keep reading on.
Like a human being, your computer can get tired and stressed out usually. Imagine that if you have worked for quite a few concessive hours and without a rest, you must be so tired. By the same token, if you have your computer worked for too long time, your computer may quit working for you, thus the issue of sudden crashes may occur. Therefore, let your computer have a rest after using it for a period of time.
Overheating is another common induction factor of computer crashes when playing games. For most computers, they are programmed to shut down automatically if the CPU or GPU temperature is going to reach the critical levels so as to protect itself from hardware failures. If your computer is overheated, you should have a break, check the cooling system and clean all fans for better heat dissipation.
If the game that you are playing is downloaded from an unknown, harmful or untrusted website, the game itself is likely a virus, which will do harm to your computer. So when you are playing such games with your computer, your computer freezes. In order to avoid such a situation, you'd better download games from reliable sources.
By now, this article is coming to an end. As you can see, there are a lot of methods that you can try to stop your computer from freezing when playing games. In general situations, these methods are effective to quickly solve this problem. However, it is hard to say that these methods can be applied to all the computer crashes cases while gaming. If these methods don't work for particular users, maybe asking a professional person for help is a better choice. Anyway, hope these methods can fix your issue effectively so that you can enjoy a smooth gaming experience.
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