Troubleshooting

The technical support line for your PC or software should only be a last resort. Most problems are common
and not too serious, and can be solved almost immediately, without spending hours and a for tune talking to someone who may or may not be able to help over the telephone. Once you're relatively familiar with Windows XP, and with the help of the following six pages of advice and tips, you should be able to get working on the solution to most common problems before you can even begin to worry. As well as 25 of our own fix-it solutions on what to do if your PC or Windows XP starts behaving badly, we've spoken to
exper t Richard Mannion, Par tner Suppor t Technical Lead at Microsoft, who's shared his top 10 support solutions that Microsoft is asked for by Windows XP users. That's advice straight from the horse's mouth, and it deals with troubles such as upgrading from previous versions of Windows, restoring your PC to a trouble-free state and transferring settings and files across from other PCs or operating systems. We've  exhaustively compiled solutions to most of the common conundrums that Windows XP users have been faced with, but if the problem you're having with your PC isn't covered by the tips in this section, your first port of call should be the enormously detailed Microsoft Knowledge Base, which is available for free online. You’ll find it at http://support.microsoft.com.