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Troubleshooting PC hardware \ software problems guide

Hi all,

I am looking for best PC hardware \ software troubleshooting guide. A guide that helps narrow down the hardware and software problems in a PC, laptop. Troubleshooting Dell workstations with Windows 7 Pro installed.

I can look into event viewer and other diagnostic tools within the OS. But I want to follow a right approach to narrow down hardware and software problems and find the root cause.
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rindi
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You can stress test the mainboard using the UBCD disk.

Try the Mersenne Prime Test.  If it fails within 15 minutes you've got a bad board or associated problem (possibles:  ram, heating), cpu).  If it passes this doesn't mean the board is bad - it won't find everything wrong - but it means it is more trustworthy.
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Hi all,

How to troubleshoot OS issues? I come across many OS related problems like taking more time to boot up, automatic restart, slow to open applications, performance problems and so on. Another problem that I come across  recently is a user computer randomly coming up with system restore wizard when the system is powered on.

To troubleshoot these kind of issues, what are different ways to handle those OS problems? What are the tools that help finding out the cause (like event viewer)?

OS - Windows 7 Pro
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and do an AV scan
each problem has it's typical solution - impossible to say how to handle it
many are caused by the kernel - in which case you almost everytime have to do a fresh install
 (this is often the best - and surely the most secure method)
you can uninstall / reinstall programs, windows programs like IE if they seem to be caused by an application
The recent system restore wizard that has come up on several Windows 7 PC's recently was caused by a buggy security patch M$ published last patch Tuesday, and which they have meanwhile withdrawn again. The Link below has details on that and how to remove the update:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2839011

The only thing you can realistically do about buggy windows updates is to disable automatic updates and do them manually, and that maybe a week after the updates get published, as then the chances are higher that problems have been found and corrected. This doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your systems up-to-date.

Also, for OS related problems, and the above, keep yourself up-to-date by subscribing to online IT magazines where these things are usually published.

Other OS related issues can be fixed by uninstalling unneeded stuff, or disabling them from automatically starting, and by running malware scans, particularly good is malwarebytes.

http://malwarebytes.org
here a link with MUCH info - from leew : http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/techtoolkit.asp
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Hi all,

Thanks for all your responses.