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Why
Computers Crash and
How Visual Shield Recovers |
A computer crash
occurs when the machine stops working and no longer responds to user input.
On Windows machines, a crash is often accompanied by some form of error
message. The cause of most crashes is usually a program trying to do something
it shouldn't or the lack of available resources such as memory.
It's safe to say that anyone who's ever worked on
a Windows system has experienced some form of crashing behavior. Errors
tell you that the system has crashed and you are usually provided with a
couple of options. If you're lucky, all you do is reboot and redo all the
work you just lost. But you could find yourself dealing with major system
corruption. Simply put, a crash is just a serious error message, a sign
that your computer has hung up due to an error. The upside of this unwelcome
behavior is that there is usually some information about what caused the
crash. A "core dump" will often appear on the screen, with coded information
from the system's RAM. It might provide information that helps you determine
exactly what went wrong with your machine and prevent it from happening
again—if you record the screen information. An infinite loop is another
of the many errors that can bring a computer to its knees. A loop is a series
of instructions that gets repeated until a specified condition is met. When
that condition can't be met, the loop cycles endlessly and never quits or
moves to the next part of the program.
HOW
VISUAL SHIELD WORKS
Kneson Visual Shield 2.0 protects against the negative consequences of many
computer crashes. Visual Shield does this by encapsulating (shielding) the
offending program that crashes, then placing it in quarantine so the other
running programs are not affected. Visual Shield then tries to resolve the
crash after which the information you were working on in that program can
be saved and the program that crashed can be closed normally.
Visual Shield works in the background - intercepting crashes and preventing
data and time loss. After Visual Shield has an offending program in its
quarantine state, it offers the possibility to reanimate the program. Reanimation
allows the data that the user was working on to be saved because it stops
the crash from becoming fatal and the program from immediately terminating.
After saving the data from the program that crashed, the reanimated
program should be closed and restarted.
Visual Shield also can revive running programs that stop responding. You
have probably noticed that sometimes programs stop responding without it
being closed. Windows of the program are still visible, but the program
does not respond to keyboard or mouse input. Visual Shield offers a function
to “thaw” the program so that data being worked on can still
be saved.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRASHING AND FREEZING
A crash occurs when a program tries to do something it is not allowed to
do. Then, other programs or the operating system no longer will function
correctly. Programs are sequences of processor instructions. The processor
reads these instructions and executes them. The instructions define how
a program does something and how a program reacts to the user.
Visual Shield detects crashes automatically because the program tells
the processor to do something it can not do. Freezing however can
not be detected automatically because the program repeats a normal instruction
pattern with nothing that is illegal. Also, there are situations in which
a program is busy with something for a long time but is not frozen. Visual
Shield allows you to decide that a program is frozen, and gives you the
option to manually thaw the program.
CRASH OCCURRENCE
When
a program crashes Visual Shield will intercept the crash. The first
time a program crashes after the program has been started Visual Shield
will show a screen showing that a crash has occurred. Visual Shield
will analyze the crash and provide you with options to decide what
to do.
The crashing program does not have to be the program currently in
the foreground (the one you are working on). It could be a program
running in the background.
The dialog screen contains the following information:
- Icon of the program
- Caption / title of the program
- Short description of the crash
- Detailed description of the crash
- Revive options
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PROGRAM REVIVAL
You can use Visual Shield
to try to revive a program. Program revival is comparable to revival
performed on patients in hospitals. In this case, a program is in some way
damaged in memory (not damaged permanently) and without Visual Shield could
only be closed. Visual Shield provides you with the option to force the
program to continue for a short amount of time. This gives
you the opportunity to save any data and avoid losing valuable work. It
is always strongly advisable to close and re-start the program after the
intervention of Visual Shield. Visual Shield will warn you if the program
that crashed is not being closed within a certain amount of time.
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