|
|
If you’ve watched Saturday Night Live in recent years, you’ve seen a running sketch called “Nick, the Computer Guy,” where users call this computer technician who arrives at their office to berate them for their lack of knowledge. They spit out their problem, he snaps at them, and then he fixes the problem with just a keystroke or two.
What if you could be Nick, minus the attitude?
The truth is, PC troubleshooting usually boils down to common sense paired with a working knowledge of the various components—hardware, operating system, and applications—that comprise a PC.
You don’t need to be certified or have a computer degree to extricate yourself and your PC from many of the messes that you or other circumstances get you into. And if you’ve been using your PC for a few years, you probably already have some troubleshooting skills. Any time you analyze a problem you’re having and work systematically through it, you’re troubleshooting.
This chapter explains the basic rules of troubleshooting that can help you approach the repair phase of your recovery process. Then you’ll learn some of the techniques you can use for spotting the source of a problem, or at least for narrowing it down to a few strong possibilities.
|
|