Computer software—be it your operating system, your word processor, or your favorite game—is prone to different types of problems, such as unwarranted crashes and confusing error messages. These error messages unnecessarily hamper your work and cause frustrations. Most of the time, when a software error occurs we panic and are tempted to seek the help of external technical support. But, this method is not only time-consuming, but can also be quite expensive.Fortunately, there are a few simple steps that you can perform to resolve (or at least narrow down the causes of) software errors yourself. Some of these steps are listed below. So, the next time you encounter a software error, you may use these steps to troubleshoot your problem.
- Close all open programs to free up RAM
All programs running on your computer need to access Random Access Memory (RAM) to perform various functions. Now, as RAM is expensive, we have a limited amount of it on the system. So, if you are running a large number of software on your computer, your system may slow down and generate errors. If this happens, close all open programs to free up RAM space and then launch the application you want to work with.
At times, there might be a problem with a software that might cause it to eat up a lot of memory. To identify this software, open Task Manager, and then on the Processes tab, check the Memory Usage column for the application that is consuming the maximum memory. You can ‘End Task’ this application and then repair it—usually by updating or reinstalling it—to resolve the issue.
Many times, errors such as error code 1311 may generate during a program installation when you are trying to install a new software on your computer. Your antivirus software may be causing this problem. So, if this happens, you must turn off your antivirus software and then continue with the installation.
- Restart your program
In case you face problems even after closing all running applications, then you must close and restart your program. If your program is in conflict with some other running application then, restarting the program quite often resolves these issues.
For instance, ActiveX problems may occur if there is a problem with your Internet Explorer. If this happens, you must try to restart the Web browser and then try to open your Website again. Here, you must also ensure that you allow the particular ActiveX control to run.
- Reboot your PC If you are unable to resolve the error by restarting your program, try to reboot your computer and then relaunch your application. Many program conflicts are conditional and are resolved when you restart the system.
- Uninstall any newly installed programs or hardware If you start encountering software errors soon after installing a new hardware or software, then this new hardware/software might be causing some conflict. If this happens, remove this new product then relaunch your application to see if it works.
- Uninstall and reinstall your application Software errors may occur if there is some problem with the program files of your system. If this happens, you may try to uninstall the application and then reinstall it to repair the damaged files. You must uninstall the application using Add or Remove Programs or a third-party program uninstaller utility. If the application you are trying to remove is very large, you may check for and download its removal tool from the manufacturer’s website. For instance, to remove a Norton product you may download and use Norton uninstaller to completely cleanup all files related to the product you are trying to remove.
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