I know this is going to sound familiar: You're merrily plowing through a project and then, out the blue, you have a have a PC problem. Instead of calling your crackerjack home-office IS team (ha!), you waste the entire day trying to troubleshoot the problem yourself.

Now you can sit back and relax: The PCW Duo (Kirk Steers and yours truly) can solve a lot of the problems your PC doles out. Read our insider tricks in the "The Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide," hot off the virtual press. In it we tackle both the hardware and software side of things. And we even supply some neat preventive maintenance tips.

There's plenty of other ways PCWorld.com can help you with troubleshooting. Contributing Editor (and my personal hardware guru) Kirk Steers gives you the inside scoop on why your system acts up. Swing by to read his "PC Troubleshooting FAQ."

Need more? I know you do. Here's another: Try the "Handy-Dandy Windows Fixer-Upper Guide."

Dig this: Have you seen Microsoft's new troubleshooting keyboard? Yep, this one takes care of all of your PC's troubles.

Free Diagnostic Tools

Our downloads mavens culled through the ether to find a few neato programs to help you diagnose your system. Try a couple of these on for size:

• Sandra Standard: A comprehensive tool for examining the inside of your computer, Sandra pokes around, detects, and benchmarks your PC's components, including its memory, hard drive, and CPU. If you're clueless about your PC, this free gem also supplies tune-up tips.
  
  
• Dr. Hardware 2000: This is a nifty utility for getting an in-depth view of your PC. Among other things, Dr. Hardware peeks into your PC's Registry settings, checks your BIOS and ports, and then shows you any potential hardware conflicts. Try the trial version.
  
  
• TuffTest-Lite: This free tool probes your PC's memory, BIOS, CMOS, and CPU. In all, the program performs 48 tests and functions.
  
  

Dig this: Check out this ad for a new SolarUPS baseball cap. It's all the rage in Redmond.

Troubleshooting? Try These Tips

Clean Your Boot: High on my list of troubleshooting tips is starting your system with as few background programs as possible. This method, while cumbersome and time-consuming, is the best way to see if a third-party program is causing problems. Microsoft supplies the details, and I encourage you to try it.

Fight File Corruption: Suspect you have a corrupt file somewhere on your PC? Consider running System File Checker. It's a mind-numbing process, but it will check--and reinstall--any corrupted files your system. Dig out your original Windows CD-ROM, and from the Start menu, click Run, type SFC, and follow the directions.

Check the Bootlog: The bootlog is a file that records everything that occurs as you boot your PC. (Well, duh.) It's handy for helping you detect drivers that aren't loading properly.

As you boot your PC, press the Ctrl key (or F8) until the start-up menu appears. Choose 'logged.' Windows will start up normally (keep your fingers crossed just in case), and a text file will be saved as C:\bootlog.txt. That file keeps track of everything that loads--or doesn't--as Windows goes through the boot process.

From Windows Explorer, double-click on bootlog.txt and search for the word failure. Some load failures ('LoadFailed = ndis2sup.vxd' is the most common) are normal. The best bet? Check Microsoft's listing of the most common bootlog.txt load failures.

Explain the Unexplained: So you say you're using Windows 98 and experiencing unexplained problems, such as GPFs and Page Fault errors? Try running Version Conflict Manager from SysINFO. From the Start menu, click Run, and type MSINFO32.EXE. (If it doesn't load automatically, check for it in its usual location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSINFO\MSINFO32.EXE.)

Click the Tools tab and click Version Conflict Manager. You may see a few older versions of programs or DLLs, and VCM will show you how to restore the current versions.

The Last Resorts

If all else fails, you may want to consider calling tech support. Contributing Editor Anne Kandra talks about how computer hardware and software companies are shifting tech support from the phone to online services. See what she has to say in "Consumer Watch: Help Without the Hold Music."

If your system still isn't running quite right and you're contemplating bringing it in for service, read "PC Repair Undercover" first. We tell you when to make repairs yourself, which repair shops to bypass, and how to deal with "bonehead technicians." (You'll have to figure out how to manage bonehead bosses on your own.)

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