ISSUE 381|COMPUTERSHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019 107
Howtouse Windows
Troubleshoot
Errors inyourcomputermaybe making it unstable orslow.
Find out howWindows canhelpyou
R
andom errors areahallmark of
owning acomputer.Fortunately,
Microsoft has been trying to make
things easier with its automatic
troubleshooting tools, which aredesigned
to look forcommon problems. As of the
May2019 Windows update, the list of
tools has expanded, letting the system
do morethan before.
Using these tools canbeuseful,
particularly when youhaveaspecific issue
causing youproblems, such as slow
download speeds from one computer,
despitethe internetconnection being fine.
Youcan even use these tools to fix issues
that youperhaps didn’t knowabout.
Launching theWindows
Troubleshoottools
Open the Start menu and typeTroubleshoot,
then select TroubleshootSettings. At the top
of the Troubleshootpage, youmay see alist
of recommended troubleshooting options to
run. These arewhen Microsoft has detected
problems with your computer and prompts
youtorun the matching tools. There’s a
good chancethat
youwon’t see any
options here,
although that
doesn’t mean that
this tool is useless.
Instead, youcan go
down the list and
see the options that
areavailable and
then choose the fix
youwant.
All of the options
arewell labelled,
such as Playing
Audio, which will find and fix problems
playing sound, or Windows Update, which
resolves problems that preventyou from
updating Windows.The tools don’t always
work, and yousometimes need additional
fixes, such as forWindows Update, which
we’vecoveredonpage 101.
Manually launching
atool
Youdon’t havetowait
forarecommendation to
run atroubleshooting
tool, as youcan opttodo
the job manually instead.
Forexample, we had a
problem with Photos
notbeing able to open
anyimages, and the
Windows StoreApps
tool fixed the issue forus.
Outofthe options
that areavailable,
we’vegot some
recommendations of
tools that canfix many
common problems.
InternetConnections
and Network Adapter
aretwo useful tools that
canfind issues with your
network and internet
connection. If you’re
experiencing slow
downloads or having
problems accessing aNAS,then these are
the tools to run. Just choose the one you
want and select Runthe troubleshooter.
Oldsoftwarecan be an issue, too. As it
gets out of date, it canbecome incompatible
with the latest version of Windows,which
may cause stability and other issues.
If you’rehaving problems running one bit of
software, the Program Compatibility
Troubleshooteristhe tool foryou. Select it,
choose Runthe troubleshooter, then
select the bit of softwareyou’rehaving
problems with from the list and click Next.
Select Tryrecommended settings to fix
anyissues automatically.
Finally,problems with sleep mode can
makeyour computer unstable and even
cause crashes. If this sounds likeanissue
you’rehaving, youcan use the Power
troubleshootertodetect anyproblems.
ABOVE:Tr oubleshooting tools canfix common problems automatically,
and Microsoft will often recommend specific tools
RIGHT:Windows can
find problems with
your internetor
network connection
ABOVE:If an application keeps crashing when
you’reusing it, the ProgramCompatibility
Tr oubleshooter is the tool foryou
