If you own a computer sometimes you may experience different problems such as computer crashes with different blue screen errors, the screen goes black with the cursor, the computer freezes randomly, Internet not working Or applications won’t open with different error and more. Well if you are not a Technical guy, you may google the symptoms to find out what’s wrong and how to resolve the issue. But did you know there are some basic solutions that help fix computer problems before trying anything else? Here we have listed basic troubleshooting steps to fix the most common Windows 10 problems.
Troubleshooting computer problems and solutions
Whenever you face any problem, whether it’s a blue screen error or computer freezes or the internet not working solutions listed below probably help resolve your problem.
Restart your computer
Yes, it sounds simple but most of the time fix a number of problems on windows 10. Whether it’s a temporary glitch or driver problem prevents your system function properly. several users report on help forums with a very specific problem and have had various solutions suggested to them by others only to end up fixing everything with a system restart. So don’t forget to restart your computer, here a video that explains Why Does Rebooting Fix So Many Problems?
Disconnect external hardware
Did you know that external Hardware such as a USB flash driver, external HDD or newly installed devices such as a printer or scanner may cause different problems on any system? Especially If you encounter a blue screen error or the computer won’t boot, shut down take a long time. If you have any external hardware attached to your system remove it and check if the problem goes away.
Again if the problem started after installing a new hardware device such as a Graphics card or printer etc remove that device and check the status of the problem.
If your computer won’t boot check if any external HDD or USB flash drive is connected to your PC, remove it, and reboot the system.
Run troubleshooter
Windows 10 comes with built-in troubleshooting tools that automatically detect and fix various problems. Such as if you encounter a problem with the internet connection or Wi-Fi disconnect frequently running build troubleshooter automatically detects and fixes problems that prevent the internet function normally. You can run it for whatever type of problem you’re having such as Internet connection not working, printer not working, sound not working, windows search not working, and more..
- Press the Windows key + X and select settings
- Go to the Update & Security from a group of settings.
- Select the Troubleshoot tab then click on the additional troubleshooter link (refer to the image below)
- Scroll down to the items that you can run the troubleshooter for.
- Pick whatever type of problem you’re having, then click on run troubleshooter to diagnose and fix problems that the troubleshooter finds.
Clean boot windows 10
Again a startup program or service can often be the cause of a problem, such as a black screen with a cursor, Windows 11 takes a long time to boot, computer freezes, and more. Sometimes It may not appear immediately you only experience the problem after few minutes you have started your computer. Safe mode boot or clean boot help diagnose similar problems on windows 10.
A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program. (Source: Microsoft )
How to perform a clean boot
- Press Windows key + R, type msconfig, and press enter,
- This will open the System Configuration window,
- Move to the Services tab, Checkmark on Hide all Microsoft services, and then select Disable all.
- Now move to the Startup tab of System Configuration, select Open Task Manager.
- Under Startup in Task Manager, you will see all programs start at windows boot with their startup impact.
- Select the item right-click and select Disable
Close Task Manager. On the Startup tab of System Configuration, select Ok and reboot your PC.
Now check If the problem fixes itself. If yes it’s likely being caused by an item that runs at startup. Slowly enable the items again, one at a time until the problem resurfaces.
Install windows update
Microsoft regularly releases cumulative updates with various bug fixes including problems reported by users and security improvements. If a recent bug causes problems on your computers such as a black screen at startup or the system crashes with a different blue screen error installing the latest Windows update may have the bug fix for that problem.
- Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app,
- Click on Update & security then hit the check for updates button,
- In addition, click the download and install link under the optional update (If available)
- This will start the download and install windows updates from the Microsoft server. The time duration depends on your internet connection and hardware configuration.
- Once done restart your computer to apply them and check the status of your problem.
Update device drivers
Drivers allow your devices to communicate with windows 10. And your computer must have the latest version of drivers installed to function everything perfectly. That’s why Windows 10 love the latest updated drivers! If you have older, outdated drivers installed on your PC you might experience different problems such as Blue screen error, Black screen at startup, or No internet access.
The latest Windows 10 version gives more control over how updates are installed but we recommend manually check and installing the latest driver following the steps below.
- Press Windows key + R, type devmgmt.msc, and click ok
- This will open the device manager and display all installed device driver lists,
- Expand them one by one and look if any driver listed there with a yellow exclamation mark,
- Right-click on that driver select uninstall the device and follow the on-screen instruction to remove that driver from there.
- Next click on action the select scan hardware changes to install the default driver for that.
If didn’t find any driver listed with a yellow exclamation mark, then we recommend checking if there’s a driver update available for the main components on your system; Network drivers, GPU or graphics drivers, Bluetooth drivers, audio drivers, and even a BIOS update.
For example to update the display driver
- Open device manager using devmgmt.msc
- expand display adapters, right-click on installed driver select update driver,
- On the next screen click on search automatically for updated driver software to allow the download the latest available driver from the Microsoft server.
Also, you can visit the device manufacturer’s site as if you have a dell laptop then visit the dell support site or if you are looking for NVIDIA graphics driver then visit their support site to download and install the latest driver on your computer.
In addition, if the problem started after installing a driver update then it may be the cause behind your problems. Roll it back if you can, or look online for the previous version.
Run SFC scan
If you notice some Windows functions aren’t working, apps won’t open with different errors or Windows crashes with different blue screen errors, or the computer freezes these are symptoms of system file corruption. Windows comes with a built-in system file checker utility that helps detect and repair missing or corrupted system files. Yes Microsoft itself recommend running SFC utility that help fix most of the common problems on windows computer.
- Open the command prompt as administrator,
- Click yes if UAC prompt for permission,
- Now first run the DISM command DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
- Let the scanning process complete 100% once done run sfc /scannow command.
- This will start scanning your system for corrupted files.
- If found any the sfc utility automatically replaces them with correct ones from a compressed folder located %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
- Let the scanning process complete 100% once done restart your computer.
Did these solutions help fix common windows 10 problems? Let us know on the comments below
Also read:
- Things to do when Windows 10 failed to start
- How to Quickly Fix Blue Screen of Death Errors in Windows 10
- 7 working solutions to fix Windows 10 slow boot or startup problem
- Fix And Repair Windows 10 Startup Problems