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Step 1
Restart. It sounds so simple, but the first rule of troubleshooting your computer is to restart the program you're having trouble with. If your computer is frozen, you should wait a few minutes to see if it comes back and maybe even try closing some other programs. But if you still have problems, close that program, wait a few seconds and restart the program.
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Step 2
Reboot. Again, a simple solution---but it's the next step in basic computer troubleshooting. If restarting a troubled program or closing several programs doesn't help, just reboot the computer. You may lose some of your work if the computer is frozen, but a lot of times the problem will go away.
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Step 3
Re-install. As a last resort, you should go to the control panel under "Add/remove programs" and remove the offending program, restart your computer and install the program again.
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Step 4
Research. Try looking on sites such as Microsoft's Windows page and searching the knowledge base for similar errors. Search on the software's website under tech support. The same can be done for hardware problems.
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Step 5
Retrace your steps. Undo what you last did, or the last several things you did, to see if your problem is solved. Sometimes just playing around with different ideas can lead to a solution.
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Step 6
Call for help. You can try calling a company for direct technical support. This may save a great deal of time and help resolve the problem. Microsoft gives you the first two calls for free, and many smaller software and hardware companies give you free phone support on their products up to a certain point. Many places will also charge you for support, so be aware of that possibility before you talk to anyone.
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Step 7
Reformat. If all else fails, you may spend hours on the Web looking for a solution to your problem, and you may find one that works. But if you don't know what you're doing, the best thing is probably to save all of your data and reformat your computer and reinstall Windows.
