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Windows 10 Troubleshooting & Maintenance

Your computer is a machine and, like all machines, it will go wrong from time to time. Windows provides a number of tools that can help you diagnose and repair most problems, and in this tutorial we show you what they are and how to use them.
A related issue is maintenance. If you don't keep your computer properly maintained, its performance will be adversely affected. Read on to find out how to keep it running smoothly.

Isolating The Problem

Troubleshooting, whatever is being investigated, can be approached in various ways. With computers, probably the most common is the "flailing around" method. This is where the user, who almost certainly has little or no knowledge of what goes inside their computer's casing, starts frantically clicking this, that and the other in the desperate hope that, somehow, it just might do the trick.

Unfortunately, it almost never does. An approach that is far more likely to produce results, is the considered approach in which you actually think about what has just happened (or not happened, as the case may be). In almost all cases, this will enable you to narrow down the potential causes of the problem and thus vastly increase the chances of actually finding it.

Things to consider include:

Error messages:
It is an unfortunate fact that the majority of computer error messages are either just phrased rather badly or are totally incomprehensible. Many of them do, however, contain error codes that can be useful.
Try doing an Internet search for the code and see what comes up - usually other people somewhere in the world have experienced the same problem and you may get the solution this way. Another is to quote the code to a support technician.
Windows settings:
Windows is chockful of things you can click. Think back - did you recently change anything? If you did and the problem showed up afterwards, you immediately have a good line of attack. If you can remember what it was that you changed, reverse that change and see what happens.
Program settings:
Computer faults are not restricted to Windows - the programs on it are just as likely to give trouble. If you recently changed something on a program that is now misbehaving, reverse the change. If the problem is still there, check to see if an update is available for the program.
New software:
Installing software on your computer is a common way of screwing it up. Most programs are fine but there are plenty of others out there that are anything but. The best move you can make whenever you are experiencing issues is to restart the computer - this action resets internal settings and can resolve a whole host of issues.
If the problem is still present, use the computer for a while without running the program - if the problem goes away, you know what's causing it. Before giving up on the program and uninstalling it, make sure the version you have installed is compatible with Windows 10 - if not look for an updated version. If all else fails though, you will have to uninstall the program.
Software update:
Downloading and installing updates to existing programs can also be the cause of issues. One method of checking this is to use the Windows File History feature to revert to a previous version as we explained here. If the problem is still there afterwards though, uninstall the update.
Unlikely as it may seem, this advice also apples to Windows itself. Windows 10 downloads and installs updates automatically (although you can put a stop to this behavior in the settings). If a problem suddenly springs up immediately after a Windows update, the update has to be suspect.
Check it out in the Control Panel by opening the Programs and Features utility. On the sidebar at the left, click View installed updates. You will now see all the updates and the dates they were installed. To uninstall one, right-click on it and click Uninstall.
Device drivers:
Installing hardware devices on your computer can cause problems if the device's driver is incompatible. This particular issue is easily resolved with the Windows System Restore utility.

Troubleshooting Steps

If you follow the advice just given, you will usually be able to narrow the fault down to its approximate location. Feeling pleased with yourself, you may now be tempted to dive in and fix it. However, before you get carried away, there are a number of very simple steps you can take that may well resolve the issue without you having to get your hands dirty.

Shut everything down:
By this, we don't mean Windows - just close all running applications. Every app that is open is using system resources such as memory and processor cycles.
Shutting these programs down releases the resources and can have a dramatic effect on the computer. To do this, open the Task Manager (right-click on the Start button and click Task Manager). You will see a list of the programs currently running. Select one and then click the End task button.
Reboot the computer:
Rebooting closes all the software running on your computer - not only the programs you see running on the Taskbar, but also dozens of services that have been started by various programs and never stopped. The whole system is then reloaded. Doing this will often fix mysterious performance problems, the exact cause of which is difficult to pinpoint.
Restart the computer:
Turning the computer off for a minute or so and then starting it up again is a well-known method of resolving hardware conflicts. The short period the computer is off gives the devices time to shut down properly.
Connections:
A surprising amount of computer problems aren't really problems at all - it's just that the user has forgotten to flick the switch that turns a device on. On a similar vein, incorrect, missing or flaky connections are also common - check the cable is securely connected, and connected to the right device.
Troubleshooters:
Windows 10 provides a number of automated troubleshooters that can check (and also resolve) various types of problem.

Restoring Your Files

We've explained how the File History utility can be used to create backups of your files. Here, we will explain how to use it to restore a missing or damaged file.

The way to do it is:

Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where you need to recover a file.
On the folder's ribbon toolbar, click History. Alternatively, right-click on the folder and click Restore previous versions.
In the window that opens, click the Previous Versions tab.
You will now see a list of all the File History versions of the folder.
Select the one you want to restore from.
Click the down-arrow to the right of the Open button.
Click Open in File History.
If the folder contains subfolders, click on it and the subfolders will be revealed as shown above. Click on a subfolder to open it and keep drilling down until you get to the file to be restored.
When you have found the file, select it and then click the "Restore to original location" button at the bottom of the window. If you want to restore all the files in a folder, select them all before clicking the Restore button.

System Restore

System Restore is a Windows feature that lets you revert your computer's state (including system files, installed applications, Windows Registry, and system settings) to that of a previous point in time. This lets you recover from system malfunctions or other serious problems.

For example, the installation of a program or a driver can cause an unexpected change to your computer or cause Windows to behave unpredictably. Usually, uninstalling the program or driver corrects the problem. If uninstalling doesn't fix the problem however, you can try restoring your computer's system to an earlier date when everything worked correctly.

System Restore uses a feature called system protection to regularly create and save restore points on your computer. These restore points contain information about registry settings and other system information that Windows uses. You can also create restore points manually.

Enabling System Restore

To enable System Restore:

Type system restore into the Taskbar search box and press Enter.
The System Properties window opens at the System Protection tab. Under Protection Settings, click Configure.
Tick the "Turn on system protection" radio button.

System Restore will now automatically create restore points whenever potentially damaging changes are made to the system. These can then be used to "undo" these changes if necessary.

To create a restore point manually, open the System Properties window as described above and click the Create button.

Using System Restore

Open the System Properties window as explained above. Under the System Protection tab, click the System Restore button. You will now see a list of all the restore points that have been made. Choose one made prior to the fault manifesting itself, click Next and then click Finish. When the restore procedure is complete, the computer will reboot back into Windows. System Restore can also be used from a system repair disc and a recovery drive.

Note:
System Restore isn't intended for backing up personal files, so it cannot help you recover a personal file that has been deleted or damaged. Use the File History utility for this purpose.

Windows Troubleshooters

Windows provides a number of troubleshooters that can help to diagnose problems. In some cases, they can even fix the problem.

To access the troubleshooters:

Right-click on the Start button and click Control Panel.
Click Troubleshooting.
You will see four categories of troubleshooters - Programs, Hardware and Sound, Network and Internet, and System and Security.
Open the most likely category.
An online check will be made to make sure the selected category is up-to-date.
You will now see the list of troubleshooters for the selected category. Click the one you want to try.
Start the troubleshooter by clicking the Next button at the bottom of the window.
From this point, follow the prompts.

Windows Recovery Environment

On this page, we described how to make a system repair disc and a recovery drive. These are necessary in order to restore a computer from a system image backup. When used, they both boot the computer into what's known as the Windows Recovery Environment.

The RE is essentially a simplified, scaled-back version of Windows, and is used to boot the system when it cannot boot normally or run in a stable manner. Within the recovery environment, a number of recovery tools are available that can be used to diagnose and repair problems with Windows. For example, automatic repair and troubleshooting tools can test disk and file integrity. They are often able to fix common disk problems and restore files damaged by disk failures, malware activity, or user errors.

Accessing the Windows Recovery Environment

There are a number of ways to access the RE and the avenue you take is largely dependant on the problem you are experiencing. If you can still get into Windows, you can do it from Update & Security:

Open the Start menu and click Settings.
Click Update & Security.
Click Recovery.
Under Advanced start-up, click Restart now.
The computer will now reboot into the recovery environment.

If, however, you cannot get into Windows, you need to access the recovery environment as described previous.

Reset the Computer

In a situation whereby you are experiencing minor issues with your computer that do not warrant the rigmarole of restoring from a backup, Windows provides a tool that may be just the thing you need.

This is the Reset utility. Reset gives you a quick and easy way to start with a clean slate while, at the same, time maintaining your apps, data, Windows settings, and user profiles. Reset automatically sets aside your data, Windows settings, and apps, then puts them back where they belong once the operating system is reinstalled. The result is a clean slate for Windows, but with your configuration settings and data intact.

To reset your computer:

Open the Start menu and click Settings
Click Update & Security
Click Recovery
Under Reset this PC, click Get started
You are presented with two options: Keep my files and Remove everything. Select the first option and click Reset in the next screen.

The computer will now reboot to the Desktop. Note that the Keep my files option will not restore the software you have installed. It will restore Windows 10 apps, but not thirdparty software. This is to avoid re-installing software that might be the cause of the problem.

A file listing the applications that were not installed is placed on the Desktop so you know what software is missing.

The second option offered by Reset is Remove everything. This removes everything on your computer - files, apps and settings, and results in a brand new installation of Windows. For situations where you cannot get into Windows to access the Reset utility, you need to use the Windows Recovery Environment and either a system repair disc or a USB recovery drive.

Assuming a USB recovery drive is being used, the procedure is:

Connect the USB drive to a USB port on the computer and restart the computer.
At the bottom of the first boot screen, press the key that opens the boot menu - this is usually the F12 key. When the boot menu opens, select the USB flash drive.
You may now see a screen asking you to select your language - do so.
You should now be in the Windows Recovery Environment or see an option that leads to it. Click the Troubleshoot option.
Click Reset this PC.
Click Remove everything.

Going back to the Choose an option screen, you will see an Advanced options link. This opens a screen offering a number of troubleshooting options that include System Restore, System Image recovery, Start-up Repair, Command Prompt, and Start-up Settings.

Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a Microsoft software utility first introduced with Windows 98 and included in all subsequent releases of Windows. It allows users to remove files that are no longer needed or that can be safely deleted, especially files that may not be obvious to you, such as temporary files used by Windows or when browsing the Internet. Use it as follows:

Type disk cleanup into the Taskbar search box and press Enter. The utility opens.
If you have more than one drive in your system, select the one to be cleaned up from the drop-down box. The utility will now calculate how much space can be reclaimed 3 At the right, you will see the location of the files to be deleted. You can deselect any of these by unchecking the box at the front.
Click OK and the selected files will be removed from the computer.

Optimize Your Drives

Defragmenting your hard drive is an integral part of keeping your PC healthy and, to this end, Windows provides the Optimize Drives defragmentation utility. It is very simple to use and can give a considerable boost to your computer's performance.

For the uninitiated, fragmentation is a phenomenon that causes drive storage space to be used inefficiently, reducing capacity or performance, and often both. Removable storage devices such as USB flash drives can also become fragmented.

The Optimize Drives utility rearranges fragmented data so your disks and drives can work more efficiently. By default, it is set to run automatically every week but you can also do it manually.

Open and run the utility as follows:

Type optimize drives into the Taskbar search box and press Enter.
The Optimize Drives utility will open.
You will see all the drives in your system, their current defragmentation status, and the date they were last defragmented.
Select a drive and click Analyse to see if it requires optimizing.
If it does, click the Optimize button to start the process. Note that this can take a long time depending on the amount of fragmentation and the size of the drive.

In the Scheduled optimization section, you'll see a Change settings button. This lets you set up an optimization schedule on selected drives. To do this:

Set the frequency of the optimization - options are Daily, Weekly and Monthly. Make your choice and then click the Choose button.
Select the drives to include in the schedule and then click OK.

Performance Enhancement Tools

More performance enhancement tools can be found by going to the Control Panel and clicking System. In the System window, click Advanced system settings at the left. Then click the Settings button in the Performance section to open the screen below:

At the top are four options and in the section below are all the visual effects used on the computer. These all make a hit on its performance so disabling any that you don't need will give you a slight boost in speed.

The "Let Windows choose what's best for my computer" option will turn on most of the visual effects. "Adjust for best appearance" turns on all the effects, while "Adjust for best performance" turns them all off. The final option, Custom, lets you choose which effects to turn on.

Click the Advanced tab and you will see options for allocating processor resources and virtual memory. With regard to the processor, you can set it for the best performance of Programs or of Background services.

Virtual memory is a paging area that Windows creates on the computer's drive and uses as extra memory. If you know what you are doing, you can adjust the size of this file; if you don't, we recommend you leave well alone.

Make Old Programs Work With Windows

With Windows 10 being a brand new operating system, many programs designed for use with the older technologies found in previous editions of Windows, are going to struggle with it. This is a well known issue and is called program incompatibility.

To overcome this problem, Windows provides a Compatibility modes feature that basically tricks programs into thinking they're running on the version of Windows they were designed for. Many older Windows programs will run fine when using this mode, when otherwise they wouldn't.

Windows 10 will automatically enable compatibility options if it detects an application that needs them, but you can enable these compatibility options yourself as we explain below:

Open the program's folder and locate its executable file (.exe)
Right-click on the .exe file and click Properties at the bottom.
Open the Compatibility tab.
Your first move is to run the compatibility troubleshooter. This will give you two options: try recommended settings or to troubleshoot the program by choosing compatibility settings based on the problems you're having with it.
If neither option does the trick, check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" checkbox and, from the drop-down box, select the required edition of Windows.
Click Apply and then OK.

If the program still doesn't run properly, either get an updated version (if available) or thank it for all its hard work and retire it.

System Information

Troubleshooting a computer often requires detailed information about the computer in question, or a part of it. Windows gives you two types of information - basic and detailed:

Basic

For a brief summary of the main elements in your system, open the Control Panel and click System.

Detailed:

For detailed information about your system, type system information into the Taskbar search box and press Enter.