Benjamin Franklin famously said that an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of care, but when it comes to troubleshooting Windows problems there’s only so much you can set up in advance. Even with the best backup regimen in the world, you can’t always inoculate yourself against a Windows error, crash, or complete meltdown.
Don’t worry though, because armed with a few tips and techniques, you’ll be well-equipped to deal with the worst that Windows can throw at you. We’ll start with the most catastrophic circumstances – a Windows installation that refuses to boot successfully to the desktop. You’ll learn how to combine Windows’ own troubleshooting tools with a powerful (and free!) third-party rescue disc to maximise your chances of fixing the problem. And if you can’t get Windows to boot again, we’ll reveal how to recover important files from the disk before performing a full reinstall.
Even when you can boot into Windows successfully, the problems don’t stop there. We’ll take you through some useful troubleshooting techniques covering a range of issues, from Windows Update to problems with USB peripherals and issues with non-responsive or freezing applications. And to help you tackle these problems with the minimum of fuss, we’ll namecheck some free tools designed to diagnose and fix problems on your behalf.
If you can’t find the solution to your specific problem from our advice, no worries. We reveal the key tools and techniques you can employ to diagnose and fix problems, and information to gather (and where to find it) to help you hunt for a fix online. If all else fails, we’ll also show you how to perform a ‘repair’ installation that will attempt to refresh Windows without wiping any programs, settings, or data, helping you to fix more deep-seated problems without reaching for the nuclear button.
Whether your Windows-related issue is a minor irritant or of major concern, you’ll discover how to take back control of your PC and potentially save your system from a needless full-blown reinstall.
Windows problems come in all shapes and sizes, so let’s start by taking a look at the biggest problem likely to come your way: boot failure. If you’ve not yet created any rescue media, you’ll be forced to
