The 5-step guide to fixing almost any PC problem

Troubleshooting is curious skill. It's part detective work, part methodical experimentation and part inspired guesswork, and part Zen Buddhism. That's a lot of parts but you need them all to be able to sift through a list of symptoms, identify the fault, work out an appropriate remedy and not go barking mad in the process.

Knowing how computers work is also handy, but it isn't enough by itself and it's much less important than you may think, now that all human knowledge is just a Google search away. Knowing the answers is all very well but the real art is asking the right questions. See what I mean about the Zen?

So I'm not going to give you a fish. I'm not even going to teach you how to fish. I'm going to build you a stinking trawler. Theoretically this ought to put me out of a job but in practice, the well of human stupidity seems to replenish itself far faster than I can pump it out, so there's no need to worry on my behalf.