Why does my PC freeze?

Q

My Windows 7 desktop sometimes seizes up for anything from a few seconds to a minute or more. When this happens everything shudders to a halt. The mouse will sometimes move a bit, but only very jerkily. Keyboard input is also possible, but delayed. And then, just as quickly as it froze, everything suddenly snaps back into action – with loads of stuff often happening at once. It happens several times a day but seems utterly random, and even happens when I’m not doing anything other than moving icons on the desktop. I’ve noticed that when this happens there appears to be a rhythmic tapping noise from somewhere inside the computer. Do you think it could be a virus? Douglas Slater

A

It’s possible, but this isn’t typical malware behaviour. Rather, the sound you describe makes us suspect strongly that your PC’S hard drive is on the way out. Specifically, the tapping noise suggests that the drive’s read/write head is continually resetting its position, which in turn is happening because it’s failing to read particular parts of the disk.

Download Passmark’s Diskcheckup, a free drive-testing tool, from www.snipca. com/26367. Launch Diskcheckup and select the Disk Self Test tab. Open the ‘Test type’ dropdown menu and choose Extended Test (see screenshot), then click the Start Test button. If the report says the drive is faulty or developing a fault, as we suspect, then there’s no practical fix. Back up the drive immediately and then seek a replacement.