My PC freezes multiple times a day, sometimes for 10-15 seconds. But in Task Manager I don't see any high usage, and the hard drive isn't going crazy either. It happens completely randomly, even when I'm just in the browser. Could it be a driver issue or is it Windows itself?
My computer also freezes occasionally even though the usage looks normal - for me it's usually outdated or incompatible drivers, especially with the graphics card. I'd recommend first checking all your drivers (GPU and chipset in particular), then checking your hard drive with a tool like CrystalDiskInfo to see if there are any errors. If that doesn't help, you could also try setting the power plan to "High performance" instead of "Balanced" - sometimes the problem hides there. Otherwise I'd honestly say that a clean Windows reinstall (not an upgrade, but a proper fresh installation) sometimes works wonders if any system files are corrupted.
This sounds like a classic case of disk thrashing or a RAM usage spike that Task Manager isn't picking up properly. Try this: Open Resource Monitor (Win+R → resmon) instead of just Task Manager - Resource Monitor shows you way more detail about what's happening when your PC freezes. Pay special attention to the disk and memory tabs. Sometimes Windows freezes because the page file (virtual RAM) is going crazy while Task Manager's percentage still looks normal.
One trick a lot of people miss: check your startup programs. Go to Settings > Apps > Startup and disable everything you don't actually need. Lots of background services start invisibly and constantly hit the disk - that shows up as nothing in CPU usage but blocks your I/O. For me, that alone cut down the problem massively.
If that doesn't help, then I'd really check your drivers (like the previous answer already mentioned, graphics card and chipset are often the culprits). But before you do that, try one more thing: temporarily disable Windows Defender and see if the freezes get better. Defender can sometimes run aggressive scans in the background that don't even show up properly in Task Manager. It's more of a temporary diagnosis than an actual solution - but it helps you narrow down what's causing it.
Try checking if it's Windows Search - that's often the silent killer and causes those brief freezes without showing up in Task Manager. Go to Settings under Privacy & Security > Search permissions and disable indexing for a couple days to see if it improves. If that helps, you can turn indexing back on after, but then only for specific folders instead of the whole drive. If that doesn't help, I'd also look at which processes in Resource Monitor (resmon) are making regular disk accesses when it freezes - you'll see stuff there that regular Task Manager misses.
The classic thing is that people usually rush to uninstall drivers or reinstall Windows before they even check the basics - that's not going to help you much if the actual problem is somewhere else. The other answers have made some good points, but I'd suggest looking in a different direction.
Check the Event Viewer to see what's happening at the time the freezes occur. Press Win+R, type `eventvwr.msc` and look at the "System" events - you'll often find driver or service errors there that Task Manager doesn't even show. Errors from `nvlddmkm` (NVIDIA driver) or similar are particularly worth paying attention to. At the same time, you can also open Resource Monitor (which another answer mentioned) and specifically check the "Disk" tab - sometimes you'll spot small spikes in I/O activity there that briefly lock everything up without showing as high CPU or RAM usage.
If you don't find anything there, I'd experiment with Windows Search, like someone already suggested - it can really cause these subtle freezes. Disable it for a test week and see if things improve. If that helps, you've found your problem. If not, the next step would be driver updates (especially chipset, audio, and graphics) or if necessary a fresh Windows install - but only after you've done the debugging.
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