Programs shutting down prematurely

[Michael Cisneros]

I have windows XP home edition loaded on the family
computer. I used to run win 98 and everythign worked
fine. I have a GeForce 2 MX, an AMD 1.4 GH processor,
512k of ram, and a 20 Gig Hard drive. I have loaded many
programs from Zoo Tycoon, to Pharaoh. Most of everything
loaded on the computer is a game. I can play any of these
games for a matter of minutes and suddenly the game will
completely shut down and sned me straight back to
windows. Sometimes, my computer will simply reboot. It
never happens when I am online, only when I am gaming. Is
there ANYONE who has had the same problems I am having?
If so I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me
and explain to me how to correct this error. I Do know it
isn't a hardware problem becuase I re installed win 98 and
everything works fine. Its oonly when I install win XP
that these problems occure. Thank you for your time.
Michael Cisneros
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Chris H.]

Make sure you personally update all the drivers and software for your
hardware devices. Just because a computer is new doesn't mean the
manufacturer has done you any favors and gone out of their way to update
everything for you.

You can also go into Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Event Viewer and
click on Application in the left pane. Then in the right pane, look for any
yellow exclamation points or red circle with white X's. These are notations
of errors, and you can right-click them, select Properties and view
information about the errors which can lead to solutions.