Happens once in a while. Always has!! Usually there is no good reason, but sometimes it's cause can be traced. You have probably noticed it happening at the same time in a sequence of events. If so just try another way to meet your goal (don't fight it you will lose). One of the main causes is not enough swap space. So to minimize the occurance of this glitch, go to ControlPanel System Performance and set your virtual memory to at least 1000mb. Also make sure there is at least this much available space on your hard drive. There are also graphics problems that can cause a crash, these can be alleviated by tweaking your graphics performance, or just getting a new card. Beyond this there is really no protection, so just pay attention to what causes this to happen and avoid it.