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2.7. Unresponsive Windows

While your window system is running, windows may seem to stop responding to commands or mouse clicks. Some or all of the window contents--but not necessarily the window frame itself--may go partly or completely blank. In this case, either a window or the entire window system may be "frozen" or "hung."

The best thing to do in a situation like this is to wait a little while. If the window is showing something from a network, such as a web browser showing a web page from the Internet--or, especially, if the window is from another computer across the network--the cause may be a network delay. If you can wait a minute or two (without pressing extra keys or clicking the mouse around; just wait!) and nothing happens, then it's time to take action. Here are some things to try at that point:

  1. Try to find out whether just one window is frozen, or if all windows (and the entire window system) are frozen.

    If you have other windows open, try to use them. For instance, if a text editor is open, try to add a word to the text or use a command from one of its menus. If other windows seem to work normally, you can guess that the problem is only in the one window (or family of windows, from one program) that seems frozen.

    If you don't have other windows open, try to open a new window from the window manager's menu, icons, panel, etc. Try to minimize and maximize that window, move it around the screen, and so on. If this seems to work normally, the trouble is probably in the original frozen window. But, if nothing seems to work, the whole window system may be frozen.

  2. Next, handle the frozen window or windows:

If you killed windows, or the whole window system--and you were doing work in any of those windows--any changes you made to a file (in a text editor, for instance) may have been lost. It's best to reopen the window, or the whole window system, and check for damage while whatever happened is still fresh in your mind.



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