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Summary: '(Not Responding)' is Windows' way of telling you that a program might have a problem. Somtimes '(Not Responding)' is benign, but sometimes it's a sign of a deeper issue. I am using windows XP PRO, and I am having difficulty when I am browsing or using a program. After a few minutes the computer freezes and I get a message in parenthesis saying (not responding). Sometimes I have to log off and log-on again to fix this problem. But after a few minutes it happens again. How can I fix this? "Not Responding" appears in the title bar of a running program when Windows detects that the program isn't behaving properly. Exactly why depends on the specific program and what you were doing at the time. Let's look at some of the possibilities which range from actual software or hardware problems, to user impatience. • Windows expects a running program to "interact" with Windows, and respond to Windows' requests in a timely fashion. If you type a key and the application doesn't take it because it's too busy doing something else, that could be a problem. Similarly, if you click on the Close Program "X" on a programs's window, and the program doesn't acknowledge that, then that too is a potential problem. When Windows asks a program to do something, like take a keystroke or close itself, and the program fails to acknowledge that request within a certain amount of time, the program is "Not Responding". If the program never comes out of that state, we might also call it "hung", as in "hung up" on something. There are "legitimate" reasons this can happen. For example, if the program you're using is doing some very long, CPU-intensive calculation, it might not respond in a timely fashion. An example might be a graphics program performing a reduction or other operation on a large image. If, during that operation, you attempt to close the window and nothing happens, after a few seconds Windows might add "(Not Responding)" to the title bar to indicate that it has tried to pass your request to the application, but the app's not listening. "Anything that causes the application to stop responding
can cause Windows to add the '(Not Responding)' moniker to the title
bar."
While it might be considered bad form or bad design to not respond to user input or to Windows while performing lengthy calculations, it's quite legal and legitimate. Once the calculation is complete, the program starts listening and responding again. A recent real-life example of my own: earlier this evening I was working on a Visual Basic program that performs various database operations. I modified it to access a database remotely across the internet which turned out to be a mistake, because the operation became extremely slow on my DSL connection. While VB was accessing the database, it was unresponsive to everything else. Windows tagged it as "(Not Responding)". Since I hadn't saved my program to disk (bad form on my part), I was loath to just kill it and lose my most recent edits. So I just let it continue while I did other things. An hour later the operation completed, and VB became responsive again. Anything that causes the application to stop responding can cause Windows to add the "(Not Responding)" moniker to the title bar. So while lengthy calculations are one semi-legitimate way it could happen for a while, what are some of the other things that can cause it?
All that is pretty vague, I know. It almost boils down to "it could be anything", which is unfortunately fairly accurate. The actual cause, and the solution, will depend on the specifics of what you're seeing. Does it happen all the time, or only when you do certain things? One specific application, or several? All of these things and possibly more are clues necessary to ferret out the cause and come to a solution. Without more specifics, my general recommendation is to make sure Windows is up to date, make sure your hardware drivers are up to date, make sure that the anti-virus and anti-spyware packages on your system are working and have up to date databases. If the problems persist, try to narrow down the common causes, if any. Related:
Article 10497 | Posted July 14, 2006 |
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My wife abd I we each have our ouw PC, they both seem to have the same problem.
Posted by: Ralph at May 14, 2008 05:02 PMSometime a popup saying send to microsoft and sometime just not responding.
I did run sfc /scannow, did I do the right thing
While I am scanning a document,it suddenly froze
Posted by: ubernommen at May 17, 2008 02:43 AMand "program is not responding " pops up.I do not want to power off to exit - What is the correct and effective way to solve this issue ?
I'm developing in Access 2003, and I use a lot of VBA. I have a CPU intensive process that invariably results in a "not responding" message in Task Manager. Once that happens, my progress counters also free. If I leave it alone, it finishes on schedule. Is there something like "doevents" for Access 2003? I sure would like to be able to run my application in the background, pop in from time to time to monitor its progress, and avoid the "not responding" message. Ideas?
J.
Posted by: Jack at May 28, 2008 10:22 AMWhen I sign on to the internet I receive a message program not responding.
Posted by: Amos at June 11, 2008 08:34 PMI'm not a PC expert, but I'm quite certain that one aspect of this problem is the speed of your broadband connection. I had a very poor download speed with one provider, and switched to BT, paying for its premium broadband service. Now I've got it, 20% of all the links I click on, result in 'this program is not responding' etc - ie an entirely sudden, new problem I never had before, and without any other changes taking place (eg software, firewall etc). So I do wonder whether my PC is now just trying too hard and too fast for its own good!!?. One thing's for sure: it ain't solved easily, because even BT's own experts can't tell me whats wrong, and how it might be put right....
Posted by: Jacqui Faulkner at June 13, 2008 02:10 PMAn update on my last comment: I SOLVED THE PROBLEM!!! I picked up a tip from another site, which was that McAfee Site Advisor is full of bugs and is prime cause of "this programe is not rsponding"... Sure enough, I disabled McAfee, and in the weeks since, I've had absolutely no problems - not one. So if you've got McAfee.....that could be your answer...
Posted by: Jacqui Faulkner at June 29, 2008 09:51 AMEverytime I try to open the program, Pagemanager 7, "not repsonding" appears on the top of the screen and the computer freezes. I need to scan documents but I cant even open the program. How do I solve this problem?
Posted by: jennie at July 7, 2008 11:51 AMI cannot open my mail. It keeps saying not responding and freezes
Posted by: Karla McCusker at August 28, 2008 11:07 AMHi,
Posted by: roy at September 2, 2008 11:46 AMI have a serious problem with my Opera web browser "not responding" at almost every comand. I have updated my Vista with the newest servicepack and I use the latest verson of Opera. The problem occur just with Opera. Any ideas?
I have a chronic and severe case of DO NOT RESPONDing. It seems to have grown when I unwittingly acquired COMPUSERVE, which I did not elect to have, but that seemingly has pirated my system. This happened when I subscribed to Norton Antivirus and was required to remove all antivirus programs so they could download the Norton. I was told that the download would take about 45 minutes, the sytem would turn off, and when I restarted it I would have Norton operational. However, when I turned on my system, it had been taken over by COMPUSERVE and there was no Norton--which basically told me that if I did not send them "only $19.95 a month" they would crash my system. I called the Norton tech and they spent hours, and were able to download the Norton and get most of the COMPUSERVE off my system, but it is still festering in a folder on my desk top, that also contains all of the files on my system. I cannot delete it. When I try to drag the files to the TRASH, I get a message that says "YOU CAN NOT DELETE THIS FILE." Since then, everything I do is very slow and if I have even two files open, it (does not respond). ALSO I can not RESTORE my system to a date before it was eaten by COMPUSERVE, as they also disabled my restore application and it does not work after the date of seizure. ANYBODY know about this and does anyone have any SOLUTIONS to rid myself of COMPUSERVE?????????????? THANKS S
-Leo
Posted by: Sandra Crofton at September 6, 2008 04:54 AM