You boot your computer, log in and try to open your favorite application but… wait… your computer just locked on you! You reboot, same issue! What happened? A virus? Maybe not; your computer might just get stuck with a program hanging soon after you logged in. The good news: It’s an easy fix!

You need to get that software out of the “startup” list. First, reboot your computer in Safe Mode by pressing F8 right after the BIOS POST. Log in and reply to the Windows prompt about being in Safe Mode. Click start and Run (Win XP) or the “Search Program and Files” search box (Vista and Win 7), type “msconfig” and press “enter”. Look in the Startup tab and click “Disable all”. Reboot in normal mode and your computer shouldn’t lock anymore.

Now get back into msconfig and start re-enabling the startup software a few at a time until you find the problematic application.

If this doesn’t fix the issue, it could be a few options: a virus or spyware, a faulty driver or some corrupted Windows files. Try running an anti-virus/anti-spyware in safe mode, updating your drivers and repairing Windows files with the installation CD.

If that still doesn’t fix the issue, drop me a line in the comment section!