Software Hang

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What Does Software Hang Mean?

Software hang describes a situation when a software program on a computer seems frozen. These kinds of problems are diverse and caused by many different factors. In software hang, the computer does not crash, but just ceases to process commands.

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Techopedia Explains Software Hang

Experts who consider the causes of software hang are careful to separate several key causes of this kind of problem. One is non-terminating loops or other coding errors that can cause a computer to work on a given task indefinitely. Newer systems have become somewhat immune to non-terminating loops. Another cause is unexpected environments for running programs. Hardware incompatibility can also cause software hang. Finally, a computer or device that is processing extremely slowly can appear to be in a software hang situation, although it may still be working.

Typically, when a program is in software hang, other programs will continue to work. In a Windows operating system, users can engage the task manager to shut down the offending program and re-open it. Software hang may produce a “program not responding” error in some operating systems.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.