Windows 8 In Depth

Getting Started

In years of helping clients and friends with hardware, software, and network problems, what I’ve noticed is that the most common—and most frustrating—way people report a problem is to say “I can’t...” or “The computer won’t....” Unfortunately, knowing what doesn’t happen isn’t helpful at all. I always have to ask, “What happens when you try?” The answer to that question usually gets me well on the way to solving the problem. The original report usually leaves out important error messages and symptoms that can identify the problem. If you can get someone to express a problem in terms of what is happening, rather than what isn’t, you’ll go from “My online banking doesn’t work” to something like “The website says my password is ...