How to fix your own PC

Time and time again I am asked to go around to someones house to help them to fix their PC. There are two types of problem I usually encounter. Malware/infection or user error. Usually people fret about the first one and blame the second on the first. Barring some random hardware failure, computers are pretty reliable devices. The one thing that really irks me is the insistence of the person who's PC has a problem is their denial of any responsibility for problems that makes them have to call me. This makes traking down and educating them about the cause of the problem harder or impossible, all I can do is to clear up the mess. People wouldn't have 99% of the problems that they do if they didn't use Windows. How can they make their PC run better?

Well first of all, learn how to use and maintain your own computer. You wouldn't drive a car without servicing it and getting it MOT'd, you wouldnt run it into the ground would you? So why do people insist on doing said same with their PC's?

Second, if you get a problem, use google and see if you can find the problem, 99% of the time it will also mention on the same page why you got the problem. Once you are educated in spyware and virus's you will avoid 99% of the problems found using your PC.

Third (and most radical). Consider switching to Linux. There are plenty of distributions and help sites around, you could put it on your PC and do without all the silly programs you have to keep up to date, like virus checkers, spybot checkers and rootkit tools. I am not saying that Linux is immune to such attacks, but the lack of spyware removal tools and choices in virus checkers for Linux is a testiment to its stability and security.

If you insist on using Windows, learn how to use it responsibly, keep you virus checkers up to date. Don't trust everything you read online and for gods sake don't run random attachments sent to you that seem to come from your friends. If your machine is part of a botnet, it is reducing the quality of the Internet for the rest of us. Ask yourself, does your PC run as fast as they day you bought it? if it does not, investigate. Hardware does not get slower with age, but added programs that insist on starting with your PC do impact your PC's performance.

The last bit of advice is the most profound. Learn how to fix your own PC. Getting someone around is the easy option, and you learn nothing. Its how I learned how to use a PC, its how a lot of the family 'experts' learn. Do you look at their knowledge with envy? Well the club isnt exclusive, learn to be as good as they are, don't be lazy.

You may even enjoy the experience!