A frozen laptop can be frustrating, especially if you’re working on something important. Whether your laptop has stopped responding due to software issues, overheating, or insufficient memory, there are several ways to fix it. Here’s how to unfreeze your laptop and prevent future freezes.

Sometimes, a laptop may freeze temporarily while processing a heavy task. If this happens:

Wait for a few minutes to see if it starts responding again.

Check if the mouse or keyboard works.

If a program is unresponsive, press Alt + Tab (Windows) or Command + Tab (Mac) to switch to another application.

If only a single program is frozen:

On Windows: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, select the unresponsive program, and click End Task.

On Mac: Press Command + Option + Escape, select the app, and click Force Quit.

This should close the program and restore your laptop’s functionality.

If your laptop remains frozen:

On Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select Restart.

On Mac: Press Control + Command + Power to force a restart.