Microsoft Weekly

See the entire collection of Windows troubleshooting tools

By Ed Bott

If you've run into a problem with Windows, chances are you're not the only one. In fact, some issues are so common that Microsoft has built a library of troubleshooting tools specifically to deal with them.

A troubleshooter might run automatically if Windows sees evidence that you're struggling with a piece of hardware or a Windows feature that isn't working as expected. Each troubleshooter kicks off a wizard that runs some diagnostics and offers the option to perform standard fixes known to work in a significant slice of problem scenarios.

But you don't have to wait for Windows to notice you're struggling. In any currently supported version of Windows, you can go to the classic Control Panel and type troubleshooting in the search box. That exposes the Troubleshooting category, with a categorized list of commonly used tools to help if you're unable to connect to the Internet, or having problems with audio recording, or struggling with a balky update. For Windows 10, there's even a troubleshooter for diagnosing the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Click View all at the top of the navigation pane on the left to see the complete troubleshooter list in alphabetical order.

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