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.

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Camera

Just when the rising cost of decent SLR cameras looked as though it was going to price out the amateur photographer from taking decent pictures easily and cheaply, we were met by the dawning of the age of digital cameras. The technology is still evolving, but it's already possible to take some wonder ful photos and see them instantly, as well as editing, printing and emailing them, without having to bother with any of the time or cost of developing them. However, it's also possible to take really bad photos if you rely too heavily on the
automatic or default settings of your camera, so it's well wor th having a fiddle with the settings until you learn what gives the best results in different locations.  To help you, we've compiled our series of digital camera tips that ran for three issues into one enormous archive. In fact, we reckon that within just half an hour, you'll be
taking immeasurably better shots and will be able to wield an impressive working knowledge of what makes a good photo. Just a few of the things we’ve covered include how to take better exterior or indoor shots, how to create cool effects, how to ensure the foreground is always in focus, what size of memory card to choose, how to take better head shots or pictures of water, a guide to night-time photos, a close-up look at macro shots and more. There are 60 tips in total, and while we can't quite promise your photos will be 60 times better as a result, it's a near thing for sure.

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Clean-up

A tidy house is a happy house, and the same applies to your PC. Getting rid of all the junk and unnecessary files that build up over time will give you a much more efficient machine. Everything wants a piece of Windows XP. Every application you install, web page you visit or email you download leaves pieces of itself all over your system, all of which takes up valuable hard drive space and can even slow down your PC's per formance. Regular house cleans are necessary to clean out the detritus and they have the added benefit of giving your system that straight-from-the-shop feel all over again. In issue 10’s lead feature we unear thed
the 50 best ways to use Windows XP to give itself a good old wash behind the ears and get running at full pelt again, without any of the accumulated rubbish from months of PC usage slowing it down. You can discover which files are safe to delete, how to completely remove an old application from your system, how to pick
and choose which programs and processes are loaded whenever you boot up your PC, which types of file take up the most space and impact most heavily on per formance and how to improve hard drive efficiency.
Nothing's too complicated either. Most of these tips can be carried out in just a few seconds and one decent clean up a month should keep your PC running smoothly, leaving you with tons of space to install new
programs and store your documents.

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