Since my copy of Skyrim has started to crash like every one elses, taking me to a black screen and making my keyboard and mouse unresponsive etc...
Doesn't happen to me, I've owned the game from day one and never had it crash, but thanks for including me in that anyways.
it would seem that even when Im not playing the game my pc has started to do this?
If you are not playing the game and it is crashing, it is not the gaming causing the problem. I know this is hard to phantom but if I buy gas from gas station a and then my car overheats, then I buy gas from a different gas station, lets call it station b, and it still over heats, clearly its not the gas stations fault is it?
If your computer is crashing a lot, clearly something is wrong with it and I would get it checked out if you are unable to do it yourself. Could be a power supply problem, could be over heating, could be LOTS of things. I highly doubt, and would even bet money on it, it has nothing to do with Skyrim. Computers are like cars, you have to take care of them, dust them out and make sure they are well maintained, if you don't they WILL break down over time.