It’s quite a difficult task indeed when you decide to repair your PC, Laptop or Computer all by yourself. I’d say the approach is very individualistic. If you take any group of people, individually present them with the same problem in the same set of circumstances and you can be sure that the ways they go about tackling it will vary widely. One person will charge at it like a bull in a china shop while another will do just the opposite, carefully examining the problem from all angles before doing anything.
Now lets assume that this problem is a computer that refuses to work properly, which reaction is the best in terms of finding the solution? Well, who’s to say? A lot depends on the circumstances. For example one person might need his PC back in hurry and therefore take the bull in a china shop approach hoping for a quick fix while someone else might have all the time in the world and will thus carefully weigh up all the options before making a move.
Now the bull in a china shop might get lucky and stumble across the answer in five minutes flat where as the other approach might take several hours before finally working out what the problem is.
But if you ask my choice, I’d say carefully weigh up all the options every time. An impatient and ill-considered approach is definitely not the most practical way to go about repairing computers.
Whichever approach you do decide to take, even a few minutes initial thought about what’s happening (or not happening as the case may be) before actually doing anything, can save a lot of subsequent time and trouble. Often there are obvious steps to take before trying something more drastic. A good example of this is the familiar lockup or freeze. So many people immediately reach for the reset button and thus risk corrupting their hard drive, rather than hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and attempting to isolate and close down the program causing the lockup. This can cause further problems.
Talk to any computer repair shop and they’ll tell you that most computer faults are user induced and are a result of those users not doing things as they should. Bear this in mind. If you decide to attempt your own repairs, try to resist the temptation to dive in head first. Thinking before you act can save a lot of potential time and head scratching.
When faced with that most familiar of computer problems, a hung or frozen PC, hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, before doing anything else. This brings up the Close Program box which shows you all the programs running and which one is causing the problem. Try and close the offending program from here.