How to crash a computer

Level of difficulty: Easy

For those of us using Windows personal computers, computer crashes and freeze-ups might be a pretty common sight. People who have upgraded to Windows Vista have also complained about that particular operating system being prone to frequent system crashes. Generally, it’s a common perception that Linux and MAC users face a lot less cases of computer crashes than Windows users because of an inherent instability in certain environments for Windows. Although the truth behind this statement is yet to be proven, it could at least be assumed that computer crashes are a pretty common sight. Usually, a computer crash is indicated by a BSOD (blue screen of death), screen freezing or erratic shutdowns and machine reboots. So, how exactly does one crash a personal computer?

Materials Needed:
- Specialized software
Step 1
Let’s first discuss the most frequent causes of computer crashes. Computer systems could easily crash due to invading programs called VIRUSES and MALWARES. These programs could easily be transferred into the system through internet downloads, peer-to-peer file transfers, internet surfing or even emails. Despite the presence of anti-virus programs and firewalls, these viruses can bring any system to its knees, causing massive damage to system files and file registries. In numerous cases, the damage evolves from being simple infections to data deletion, corruption or unwarranted modifications as well. Apart from these obvious viruses, there are MALWARES and Trojans as well. These comparatively less-damage inflicting programs also corrupt some files in the hard disk. However, they might also cause computer crashes as they often de-activate the Windows Task manager, or obliterate important system files.
Step 2
Despite these, the simplest ways to crash a computer set-up is often to compel it to perform multiple functions at the same time. Double-clicking all the icons on the desktop causes the computer to freeze and crash, necessitating a reboot. Also, while playing heavy-graphics games, the computer often crashes while trying to simultaneously operate numerous programs or executables. Power surges or erratic power supply could also result in computer crashes, as the circuits in the computer motherboard are extremely sensitive. These circuits can easily get fried if a large electrical charge passes through them. Manually killing the power by switching off the machine also might help in a computer crash the next the computer attempts to boot. However, this procedure is definitely an extreme measure because suddenly killing power severely damages the HDD in the long run. Ultimately, it all comes down to trial and error to see which process works the best without causing much collateral damage.