When this happens, the system just hangs. Even the task manager fails to respond. Then the only way to get back to work is to Power off the PC and then start it back. A few days back, Microsoft had acknowledged this issue and said that this problem was rectified from their internal Pre-RTM builds, and now they have come up with a hotfix for the rest of us using Windows 8 Release preview or Windows Server 2012 RC. The new update (2727113) is available to be downloaded via Windows Update. The Knowledge Base article(KB) 2727113 explains the issue as:
How to install the update?
If automatic Windows Update installation is turned on your PC, you need not do anything. Windows will automatically download and install the update on your computer. But if you have disabled automatic Windows update, you need to follow these steps, to install the update:
Press Win+W keys and search for Windows Update from the start screen.
Then click on Install optional updates.
Windows will search for optional updates and will install it. A restart is required to completely install this update. So after installing the update, save all your work and restart the system. The freezing issue will be completely gone and you can continue enjoying Windows 8.
