Laptop sometimes freezes when I open websites requiring excessive memory / CPU usage

Question

I've installed Chrome on my laptop (Windows 7 as prime OS, 4GB RAM and a Core i5 processor).

Sometimes when I open certain websites that require more memory and CPU usage, my laptop freezes, and the only way to shut it down is to hold the power off button for 4-5 seconds.

What could be the root cause, and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

Alas, it's fairly "normal" for systems to "freeze" when accessing certain web pages that demand a lot of CPU. Usually, however, if you wait long enough, the system will "come back".

Sometimes, however, a bug in the browser prevents this, and prevents the browser from being "killed". In that case, on Windows, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, select "Start task manager", and find the problem app in the list of running tasks. You can then click on it and kill it.

If you have this a lot you should install MS "Process Explorer", as it makes the operation a hair smoother.

(There are equivalent operations on Linux and Apple, but I'll let others describe them.)

(PS: I've found Mozilla to be a bit more stable/reliable in this regard than the others.)