PC problems? Troubleshoot them in 10 steps
Summary: Being methodical when you troubleshoot PC issues can save time and frustration — and it also gets users back to work more quickly, says Jack Wallen
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Deal with networking trauma
4. Diagnose printing woes
Printers can be tricky. But there are ways of simplifying this troubleshooting job. First, find out what type of printer you're dealing with. If the printer is networked, ensure the network is actually up. If it is, ask whether other machines can print to the printer in question. If they can, check whether any jobs are stuck in the machine's printer queue.
If you open the Printers And Devices window and the printer is not listed, find out if it recently disappeared. If it did, the driver is probably corrupt and will need to be removed from within Regedit. If the printer is still listed and no jobs are in the queue, ask the user to restart the machine and then try to print. A good restart cures many woes in Windows.
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