Why do games freeze up on the computer

There are several reasons a computer may "freeze" or "lock up" :

-- not enough RAM for the game (separate graphics RAM or card works best)
-- not enough hard disk space (games will sometimes store extra info as virtual RAM)
-- slow connections / low bandwidth (screen changes too slowly, cannot keep up)
-- other programs, including antivirus, running in the background (steals CPU time)

* Spyware or malware (either with the game or already on the computer) can prevent the computer from operating at optimum speed, or hog disk space. If you already have sufficient RAM and hard disk space, you may want to check that it is not being used by malware when you are online.