*Read* before starting a Thread on Hardware/Software issues

Please include detailed information when asking for troubleshooting

If you have a Hardware or Software problem, it's first advisable to search the internet for blogs, forums and websites that might already have covered the problem you have. I'd say about 85-90% of the time any troubleshooting that happens here involves people posting a problem without looking and then those that attempt to help might have been curious enough to do a search themselves. This means if they come up with an answer from a search, that it's likely the person posting the problem could of found the same information they found.

When you do have a problem that you can't find any information on, or can't make head or tail of what you do find. Remember that those people helping here can volunteer help, but they are not mind readers and although they might be completely technical savvy guru's, they won't know anything about what software is on your computer and what hardware you are using.

So always state:

• What OS you are using? (Is it 32-bit or 64-Bit etc or some limited edition?)
• What your computer specifications are? (Make, Model, or a breakdown of the make and model of components like Motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM)
• What version software you are running? (Saying "Firefox is messing up", isn't as helpful as "Firefox v2.0.6 is messing up" since it aids finding out if the problem is common or not.)
• If you are asking for help with some equipment (Peripheral), Remember to state the Make and Model. It's extremely important if you want help.

By all means you can quote (or attach) information from DirectX Diagnostics (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190900), MSInfo (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300887), HijackThis! (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hjt/) or a number of other programs found on the internet that collect your systems information, Just remember to make sure that it keeps out information like your Real IPa, Passwords, Usernames and any Customised Folder Hierarchy.

If you can do all this, I and others like me we be able to solve your problems far quicker with a lot less fuss. Otherwise we end up spending 4-5 posts asking bits and pieces to eventually work out what the problem is, rather than just posting an answer for you.

If you can take this into consideration you'll have happier support people compared to the grumpy ones that think it's a lot of hassle chasing for all this information.