Having trouble with your computer? You’ve come to the right place. Even if you don’t know a computer language (or want to), you can solve several common PC problems on your own.
In this article, we offer many ways to do what you need to do in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Often, there may not be a Help topic for Windows XP, but the process is often the same as in Windows 7 or Windows Vista. The only difference is usually where to find the link in Control Panel. Most often, it’s just a matter of slightly different wording in the heading or the text describing the task. Don’t worry. If you search in Control Panel, you’ll usually find the link you need.
F1 is magic: Get help on your PC
If you can’t figure out how to complete a particular task in your software program—and you’re using a PC—the most important shortcut to know is the F1 key. Just push it while the program—Word, Excel, or whichever program you’re using—is open and active, wait a moment, and the Help window specific to your active program will appear. See an F1 key demonstration. The F1 key works with almost all Microsoft products, so it’s a helpful starting point for a wide variety of problems.
The basics
If you’re encountering a different kind of obstacle – your new device won’t appear on your desktop, an application you added won’t run, you see an error message, or your computer is refusing to start up – here are a few preliminary steps:
- Before adding any major hardware or software to your system, make sure you’ve recently backed up your Windows 7-based PC or your Windows Vista-based PC as a safeguard. By using the automatic backup functions, you can schedule regular upkeep for maximum convenience.
- Many issues can be resolved by simply checking to be sure that all of your plugs are connected properly. After you are sure of that, try restarting (“rebooting”) your system. Turn your computer off, and then back on a few seconds later. If the problem continues, follow the steps below.
Minor problem: The best-case scenario is that a patch clobbered your system. If you authorize Windows Update to apply patches automatically, key Windows files may change without your knowledge or consent. Fortunately, whenever a patch or update gets applied–even if you manually replace a driver (by far the most common source of instability)–the installer creates a system checkpoint, so it’s easy to roll back the offending patch. If you’re running XP, you can try using the System Restore feature to restore your PC to a state it was in before things stopped working. Otherwise, restart your computer, and as soon as you hear the PC beep (indicating the completion of its power-on self-test, or POST), press F8 and choose Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked).
Moderate problem: If reverting to the last known good configuration doesn’t help, a piece of hardware or system software has probably gone belly-up. To investigate, you should crawl around your system using Safe Mode–a special minimally functional way of running Windows that bypasses your start-up programs; ignores essentially all hardware except your keyboard, mouse, and monitor; and avoids your fancy graphics driver (frequently a source of problems). To start in Safe Mode, reboot, wait for your system to finish the POST, press F8, and then choose Safe Mode. To check for hardware problems using Windows Device Manager, choose Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, System, click the Hardware tab, and click the Device Manager button. Any devices that appear with a question mark are immediately suspect: Double-click each to follow up. To uninstall any recently installed (and therefore suspect) software, click Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. When you feel that it’s safe to go back into the water, restart your computer and then allow it to boot normally.
Dire problem: So you’ve tried Safe Mode, and nothing helps. Maybe one of your Windows system files has the hiccups. Before you reformat your hard drive, run a Repair. To do this, boot from your Windows XP CD; when given the choice ‘To set up Windows XP now’, press Enter. Accept the license agreement. Then, ‘To repair the selected Windows XP installation’, press R. Windows reinstalls all of its files and then restarts. Once your PC is running again, confirm that your firewall is working, go to Windows Update (Start, All Programs, Windows Update), and download and install all the patches your system requires.
