How does a Windows operating system get crash

Crashes aren't just a part of using Windows operating system. If your PC consistently crashes there must be some reasons. Let's take a look at the most important reasons why Windows crashes frequently.

Problem of Memory or Motherboard

Many crashes, particularly those that result in a Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD), occur because of a memory or motherboard issue. This can result in a Fatal Exception Error, which means data that stored in memory could not be retrieved. You can test memory with a utility like Memtest86 or, in some cases, a built-in motherboard diagnostic tool. Another way to test is to simply swap in new memory and see if the issue goes away. If it does not, and the RAM you installed was correct, the motherboard may be the issue.

Improper BIOS Settings

Most motherboards come from the factory with default settings are compatible with many PC brands. Sometimes these settings might be altered by the PC's manufacturing company or individual. The settings should stick but they'll revert to default if the CMOS battery goes flat. That can cause your boot order to be re-arranged or put different components in conflict. Another common problem with boot order is a high placement of USB or CD-Drives. If you leave USB drive plugged in to your PC, and the BIOS is set to boot from USB first, your PC will not boot properly. You can change the boot order or simply remove the offending drive.

Corrupt PC Registry

The Windows Registry doesn't run into problems like it used to, but issues are still possible. A corrupt registry can cause a computer to crash or may prevent it from booting properly. Quality registry fix software can often fix this problem. If your computer will not boot properly try to run Windows in Safe Mode and run the software from there.

Corrupt Driver Software’s

All driver software tells to computer hardware what to do and how to do. If they aren't working properly they can cause crashes of operating system, even if the hardware is in perfect condition. Crashing of operating system of this type usually associated with an error message. Sometimes the error message will clearly name the offending hardware. If it does not, try running the message through Google to see if that helps you find the culprit. Once the hardware driver with a problem is identified you can search online for an updated driver and install it. If the problem persists, try completely uninstalling the driver and then re-installing it from scratch.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Problems

A hard disk drive failure causes of boot problems. If your computer mysteriously loses its ability to find the boot drive, but BIOS is properly configured, a hard disk drive issue is the culprit. Hard disk drive issues are also often behind crashes that occur only when opening a specific file. If you can still boot to the drive try running a free hard drive test to see if there's any obvious issues. A healthy report should give you cause to look else where for the problem, but a bad report means your drive has serious problem.

PC Hardware Conflicts

Windows can sometimes crash if it is receiving conflicting information from different pieces of hardware. This is called as a hardware conflict. You can see if there's a hardware conflict by opening the Device Manager. If a conflict exists it will be visible in this utility with a yellow and black exclamation icon. Take a look at the hardware that is conflicting and view its properties through the right-click menu to find more information. Sometimes the issue is caused by driver software. In other cases it can be caused by BIOS bad configuration or faulty with PC hardware.

May be Virus or Trojans

A virus or Trojan can cause serious problem to a PC. It might corrupt or remove drivers, delete important system files or change administrative settings. All of these can cause unexpected crashes in the operating system. Any fight against malware is usually lost the moment you notice it. The problem is that, once it's taken hold on your system, it's very difficult to trust that the methods you'd normally use to diagnose your PC are working as they should. The best way you can do is downloading a trusted antivirus and start scanning. If you can't seem to root out the malware you can format the hard disk drive and re-install Windows fresh. Then install latest anti-virus software with internet and firewall security to avoid attacks of virus, Trojans and malwares. Take your system backups in regular intervals.


Power issues

In some cases a persistent crash issue, particularly a random reboot or a BSOD caused by hardware you've verified to be working properly, is the result of a power issue. You should only turn to this possibility if you've eliminated all other possibilities. There are two potential causes to address. The most common problem is power supply, this problem with the supply that reduces the power it can deliver, or causes an uneven flow of power, can result in otherwise unexplainable crashes. The only solution for this problem is to replace the power supply.


System Software

Most of the system software errors will not cause Windows to crash. Both the operating system and the software that runs on the PC might have become more reliable over the years. But still, software issues can cause random lock-ups. The culprit is often obvious because the problem only occurs when that software is used. It will be less obvious if the problem software is running in the background.

In rare cases your PC might stop on boot because of software that runs automatically. You can usually resolve this by booting to safe mode and using msconfig to disable software that runs at boot.

The TEN Commandments of Facebook

Posting certain photos or information on the site puts you at risk of being fired, a victim of crime, or even worse. There are computer programs called 'data mining' that sweep Facebook to collect dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses etc. Here are the things you should never post on Facebook.

Date and place of birth: This places you at massive risk of identity theft. They are the most commonly used security questions on password resetting sites.

Mother's maiden name: A lot of sites use your mother's maiden name to authenticate who you are. They also commonly use the school you went to as a security question.

Address: It again puts you at risk from identity fraud, but also from burglars and stalkers.

Holidays: Don’t put any update about your holiday or outing that means you are basically saying: "Come and rob me."

Short trips away from home: Again, this can put you at risk of burglary and stalking.

Inappropriate photos: Don't post racy, illicit, offensive or incriminating photos. Bosses and prospective employers are increasingly looking at Facebook pages.

Confessionals: These can also get you fired or haunt you for the rest of your life.

Phone number: Unless you want to be bombarded with unsolicited phone calls from people trying to sell you something don't.

Children's names: These can be used by identity fraudsters or, more sinisterly, by paedophiles. It is much easier to steal a child's identity.

Don't post a full public profile: It won't just exist on Facebook, it will go on any internet search such as Google. Only give the bare bones such as a name. Keep everything else private.

The TEN Most Common Database Vulnerabilities

Protecting databases is hardly an easy task, but it is often the attacks that go after the simplest vulnerabilities that are most successful.

The common thread in this list is that databases security and their configuration is not a fire-and-forget operation for database administrators. Organizations must continually assess packages to determine if they are really necessary and disable those they don't need to reduce attack surfaces. They need to be vigilant about keeping on the lookout for default or weak log-in credentials. They have to put sound privilege and authentication practices into play. And most important, they need to patch regularly.

1. Default, Blank, and Weak username/password

It might be a daunting task at an organization that has to keep track of hundreds or even thousands of databases. But removing default, blank and weak log-in credentials is an important first step to change your database default username/passwords. The bad guys are keeping track of default accounts, and they'll use them when they can.

2. SQL injections

When your database platform fails to sanitize inputs, attackers are able to execute SQL injections similar to the way they do in Web-based attacks, eventually allowing them to elevate privileges and gain access to a wide spectrum of functionality. A lot of vendors have released fixes to prevent these problems, but it won't do much good if your DBMS remains unpatched with latest updates.

3. Extensive User and Group Privileges

Organizations need to ensure privileges are not given to users who will eventually collect them like janitors collect keys on their key chains. Which can be managed collectively more easily than if users were assigned direct rights.

4. Unnecessarily Enabled Database Features

Every database installation comes with add-on packages of all shapes and sizes that are mostly going to go unused by any one organization. Since the name of the game in database security is to reduce attack surfaces, enterprises need to look for packages that don't use and disable or uninstall them. This not only reduces risks of attacks through these vectors, but it also simplifies patch management.

5. Broken Configuration Management

Similarly, databases have many different configuration choices and considerations available to DBAs to fine tune performance and enhanced functionalities. Organizations need to be on the lookout for unsafe configurations that could be enabled by default or turned on for convenience of DBAs or application developers.

6. Buffer overflows

Another hacker favorite, buffer overflow vulnerabilities, are exploited by flooding input sources with far more characters than an application was expecting say, by adding 100 characters into an input box asking for a SSN. Database vendors have worked hard to fix the glitches that allow these attacks to occur. This is yet another reason why patching is so critical.

7. Privilege Escalation

Similarly, databases frequently sport common vulnerabilities that allow attackers to escalate privileges within a little known and low privilege account and gain access to administrator rights. As these vulnerabilities are uncovered, administrators need to reign them in with timely updates and patching.

8. Denial of Service (DoS) Attack

SQL Slammer provided a very illuminating illustration of how attackers can use DBMS vulnerabilities to take down database servers through a flood of traffic.

9. Unpatched Databases

This could be repetitive, but it bears repeating. So many database administrators don't patch in a timely fashion because they're afraid a patch will break their databases. But the risk of getting hacked today is way higher than the risk of applying a patch that will go haywire. That might not have been true five years ago, but vendors have become much more rigorous with their testing.

10. Unencrypted Sensitive Data at rest and in motion

Perhaps it is a no brainer, but organizations should never store sensitive data in clear text within a database table. And all connections to the database should always use encryption.