This is a little webpage I cooked up today, being one of the people other people will call when their PC slows down, or acts up. It's nothing new for any PC enthusiast out there, but I hope it can help some people who knows little more than how to install a program on their PC.
If anyone has any corrections, additions or other comments, feel free to post them here or send me a PM.
I hope someone will find this useful.
This is mostly aimed at Windows XP, but may apply for other Windows Versions as well.
Changes:
2006-09-03: Edited the document, added a little something on Personal Firewalls.
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Agent Embryo's (Very) Basic Troubleshooting for Windows PC's!
So your Windows PC is acting up? It's slow, unexpected things happen when you surf the Internet, etc, etc? There are some things you can do yourself before calling your local computerguru to have them troubleshoot your computer. These steps are easy and anyone who can install a program should be able to do these things before calling someone. Using the advice here can also prevent alot of trouble.
GOOGLE! (or any other search engine of choice)
Whenever you have some sort of question, go to
www.google.com and search for webpages dealing with your questions first! Chances are you can find something relevant on the first page of results. This is the first thing you should do, unless something stops you from reaching the google site. If you don't do it and then later post your questions on a forum where the users regard the answers as being easy to find with a quick search, you will get answered "Google is your friend" or something similar.
Windows Update
Windows isn't perfect, as you may know. Security holes are discovered frequently, and updates are issued as often. Some updates are critical, some are not. Installing them all is a safe bet. Some patches have been known to slow things down however, so if your PC becomes notably slower after updating, do a little research on the patches, maybe others are having the same trouble.
You should check for updates for Windows each month at least. Beware that the updates can sometimes be huge downloads, so doing this over dial-up is not recommended.
Antivirus Software (AV) and Personal Firewalls
This is a MUST. There are people who run their computer without it for years without catching a single virus. They might tell you it's not necessary to use AV software. Alright, but when you DO get a virus that AV software would have stopped, and you have to reformat your harddrive, making you lose everything on it, you'll wish you had used AV software.
There are a number of free antivirus programs on the internet, download one and use it. One of the most popular (and in my opinion one of the best free AV programs) is called AVG, and can be downloaded from
www.grisoft.com. Free of charge, free updates. You can set it up to fetch updates automatically if you like. There are others too, google "Free Antivirus" if you want to find them.
Commercial alternatives include Norton Antivirus(or Norton Internet Security), Avast, F-Secure, Trend Micro PC-cillin and many others.
There are also a number of online antivirus scanning utilites if you suspect you already have a virus, and don't have any AV software installed. I like Trend Micro's Housecall (
http://housecall.trendmicro.com) but you could try out a few different ones. Scan your PC for viruses if it behaves in odd ways.
Personal Firewalls are used to block hazardous incoming traffic from the internet, and to control application access to the internet and/or network. A personal firewall can be great protection, but it can be difficult to configure for someone who doesn't know much about computers. Windows XP has a built-in personal firewall that usually works for most people. For more advanced software, there's for exampel the Norton Internet Security suite.
Get rid of any Spyware on your PC
Spyware is almost as bad as viruses, if not worse. This is what is said about spyware on the homepage of Spybot Search & Destroy, a program to find and remove spyware:
Quote:
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Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies.
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Spyware can cause serious slow-downs and odd behaviour on your computer. Download and install Spybot Search & Destroy and scan your computer. While Spybot S & D can find much spyware, it won't find it all. That's why it is recommended to scan your system with another program as well.
AdAware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com)
SpywareBlaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Microsoft Defender
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...e/default.mspx (credit to Bill in SD, CA)
For more on common spyware solutions, have a look in this thread:
http://www.techimo.com/forum/t114250.html - thanks to vass0922
A way to avoid much spyware trouble is to change what browser you use to browse the web. Good alternative browsers are available here:
www.mozilla.com www.opera.com Trojans
Programs designed to get into your PC and run some sort of service, or spy on you, or completely take over your computer, Trojans are usually included when scanning your system with Antivirus software. Some might not be found however. Sometimes downloading and scanning the computer with something like The Cleaner (
http://www.moosoft.com) can reveal that you have trojans on your computer and remove them. If you do have trojans, it might be because your software has security holes. Refer to the "Windows Update" part on this page.
So now we have updated Windows, and scanned the computer for any viruses, spyware or trojans that may cause trouble. Maybe we found some problems, maybe not. Time for the next part.
Recently Installed Software
Did you install any new software recently, that may cause problems? Many Programs and Games need updates and patches just like Windows. Check the developers homepage to download patches and updates. If you have system restore activated you can try restoring to a point where the computer worked.
Drivers
Maybe you updated your device drivers for something recently, like your Graphics card, or your soundcard? Nvidia, for example, use the same driver package for all their Graphics cards, from the TNT GPU series up until today's newest cards. Some newer drivers may cause older graphics cards to run slow. Test some different versions of Graphics Drivers (ok you might want to call your local computer guru now, if you think this is your problem and if you feel experimenting with the drivers is a pain or a bit beyond what you feel comfortable with).
As a rule of thumb, your drivers should all be the latest version, but sometimes there's problems with certain versions of different drivers not working properly together. But again, try to have the latest drivers available. Below is a list of links to different manufacturers' sites where you can download drivers. Avoid downloading drivers from sites collecting drivers as much as you can. You never know what might be in there with the drivers.
Manufacturer Links:
Nvidia(Graphics and Chipset):
http://www.nvidia.com
ATI(Graphics):
http://www.ati.com
VIA(Chipset):
http://www.via.com.tw
Intel(Chipset, Graphics, NIC, anything Intel basically):
http://www.intel.com
SIS(Chipset):
http://www.sis.com/ Still not working right?
Ok, so now's the time to call for help. Call the support/helpdesk for your computer, or call your local computer superhero. Good luck!
I hope this will help you solve your problems, if it didn't I'm sorry. If it caused more trouble, I'm sorry. I can take no responsibility for any of the programs I've linked to messing up your system worse than before. 
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Free Scan: Update Your PC's Outdated Drivers to Optimize Performance 
