Signs of imminent failure might include regular poor performance, frequent errors and/or popups, unknown programs being installed, frequent power loss (the computer shuts down automatically frequently), frequent crashes, or certain parts not working.
The signs of a hard drive in decline can include grinding or clicking noises, frequent crashes or other erratic behavior.
However, problems with memory are often quite nefarious and result in frequent crashes while working, resulting in freezes.
The notions of excess capacity and malinvestment were common in business-cycle theory of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when growing Western economies had frequent crashes of this kind.
My position is that a robust system needs to produce frequent crashes, with citizens immune to them, rather than infrequent total collapses which we cannot cope with.
Most frustrating are the frequent crashes when capturing Pokémon, leaving you short on items without a catch to show for it.
But athletes from contact sports or sports that involved frequent crashes and collisions, like rugby and bobsledding, had shorter relative lifespans than the other Olympians.
I described the problem to Aram Sinnreich, an analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix who follows digital music, who said the lack of uniformity among formats and encoding technologies made for frequent crashes, delays and frustrations.
In many ways, then, the marketplace of ideas does not work as advertised: it is not efficient, there are frequent crashes and failures, and dangerous products often win out, to widespread surprise and dismay.
