Frequent crashes can signify a deeper problem, like a virus or a glitch in a software program. It's worth every penny to invest in a disk doctor program such as Norton SystemWorks ($100 for PCs, $130 for Macs), which not only fixes all manner of crash-related snafus but also protects your machine from viruses and cleans out extraneous Internet clutter, such as unnecessary cookies dumped on your hard drive by various sites you visit (see How to Disable a "Cookie"). Plus, if your system ever goes kaput, you can start it up again by inserting the SystemWorks emergency disk and then running a diagnostic to figure out what exactly is wrong.