STOP Errors

Stop errors and stop of Death errors are errors that occur when Windows runs into a problem and stops responding. General Stop errors occur when Windows cannot recover from a particular condition while Specific Stop errors occur when a known condition interferes and Windows cannot recover. Hardware malfunctions can occur when the system cannot recover from a condition involving hardware.

Troubleshooting Stop errors involves rebooting and re-tracing your steps. You will almost always have to reboot, so just go ahead and get that over with after writing down the specific error code displayed.

If you’ve recently installed new hardware or software make sure it’s properly installed and reinstall if necessary. You may have a compatibility issue or need an updated driver. Try removing the hardware and seeing if that solves the Stop errors.

If you haven’t made any recent changes, go to the Microsoft website and search the knowledge base for your specific Stop error message. You should be able to find a specific solution to the problem at hand.

Another potential cause of Stop errors is a virus infection. Make sure your anti-virus program is current and perform a thorough scan. If you find a virus or worm, follow the steps for removing it according to your specific anti-virus documentation.

Another important step is to make sure you have the latest service packs, updates, and hotfixes installed. Use Windows Update to download and install critical updates.

Once you’ve successfully troubleshooted your Stop errors, it’s important to perform regular system maintenance on your PC to ensure its overall health. Every time your computer stops responding, your data is at risk for corruption. Preventing potentially dangerous errors will save you a lot of heartache and grief in the form of lost data.

Among the critical maintenance steps recommended are anti-virus scans, anti-spyware scans, system defragmenting, disk cleanup, disk error checking, and registry cleaning. Most of these utilities come built into Windows however you may need a third party registry cleaner, anti-spyware, and anti-virus utilities. These utilities don’t cost much and pay for themselves in increased security and improved performance.

To access the Disk Defragmenter, Disk Cleanup, and Disk Error Checking go to My Computer (or Computer if you have Windows Vista) and right click on your disk drive. Choose Properties and a dialogue box opens.

The Disk Cleanup is located in the General tab while the Defragmenter and Disk Error Checking are found in the Tools tab.

When shopping for your third party utilities choose a trusted manufacturer. Registry cleaners prevent Stop errors and thousands more by keeping the registry cleared of entries that interfere with a PC’s normal operations. While manual registry editing is extremely risky, registry utilities are safe and effective.