What should I do when my computer freezes?
Getting control back without losing work, and finding out why it froze so it stops happening.
beginner20 min2 min read
Troubleshooting
A method for when something just stopped working.
79 guides in Technology
Why does my streaming keep buffering?
Working out whether the bottleneck is your wifi, your broadband or the service, and fixing the ones you control.
beginner25 min2 min readWhy does streaming keep buffering when everything else works fine?
Buffering on one app while the rest of the internet is fast is rarely about broadband speed. The five real causes, and the order to test them in.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy is my camera or microphone not working on a call?
Permissions, device selection and the other application holding the camera — the three causes of almost every case.
beginner15 min2 min readWhy is my phone camera blurry all of a sudden?
The five causes in order of likelihood, why it is almost never the sensor, and the test that identifies it in seconds.
beginner20 min3 min readHow do I clear a paper jam without damaging the printer?
Which direction to pull, why torn fragments cause every subsequent jam, and the four causes of a printer that jams again the moment you have cleared it.
beginner15 min4 min readWhat do all the sockets on the back of a TV actually do?
Every socket on a modern television explained by what it is for, including why the HDMI sockets are not interchangeable and which one the soundbar has to use.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy did my printer stop working after I changed my router?
A wireless printer stores one network name and password and has no way of being told they have changed. What to do, in what order, and how to make the next router change painless.
beginner25 min3 min readWhy does my computer say it is full when I have deleted everything?
The missing space is in snapshots, restore points, update caches, the recycle bin, the hibernation file and system reserves. Where each one lives and what is safe to reclaim.
beginner40 min4 min readWhy is there no sound on my computer?
A short check from the obvious to the driver level, in the order that resolves the most cases fastest.
beginner15 min2 min readHow do I set up a new TV's picture properly?
A short setup that gets most of the way to an accurate picture using only the menus the set already has — and the shop-floor settings worth undoing on day one.
beginner25 min4 min readHow do I stop my inkjet printer drying out when I hardly print?
An inkjet used twice a year will fail twice a year. What actually dries, the routine that prevents it, and the honest answer about whether an inkjet is the right machine for you at all.
beginner15 min4 min readHow do I work out what is wrong with a device?
A general method that applies to any device: isolate, simplify, change one thing at a time.
beginner30 min2 min readWhy does my tablet run so slowly?
Storage, background apps and age — what can be fixed, and how to tell when it genuinely cannot.
beginner25 min2 min readWhy does only one of my wireless earbuds work?
One earbud silent is usually the link between the two buds rather than a broken earpiece. The reset that fixes most cases, and how to tell when it is genuinely a charging contact problem.
beginner15 min3 min readWhy is my disk at 100% in Task Manager?
It means the drive is being asked for more than it can deliver, not that it is full. Almost always a mechanical drive plus something legitimate running — here is how to find which.
beginner40 min3 min readWhy does my printer print blank pages?
Paper coming out untouched is a different fault from faint printing. Whether it is the ink, the document or the driver, and the two tests that separate them in five minutes.
beginner15 min4 min readWhat should I do about a blue screen or a kernel panic?
A crash is the system stopping deliberately because continuing would corrupt something. The message names a culprit — here is how to read it and what the pattern tells you.
intermediate1 hr4 min readWhy does my TV picture look like a cheap soap opera?
The processing that makes films look like video, why televisions ship with it switched on, and how to find it when every manufacturer calls it something different.
beginner10 min4 min readWhy is my printer producing streaky or faded pages?
Blocked nozzles, low toner and the wrong paper setting — what the pattern of the streaks tells you.
beginner20 min2 min readWhy is the sound behind the picture on my Bluetooth headphones?
Bluetooth audio is always delayed — the question is only by how much. What sets the delay, why video apps hide it and games cannot, and what to do when it genuinely matters.
beginner10 min3 min readWhy will my second monitor not display anything?
An ordered check that separates the cable, the port, the monitor's own input selection and the computer's display settings — the four places a blank second screen actually comes from.
beginner25 min4 min readWhy does my document print the wrong size or cut off the edges?
A scale setting hides in three separate places and two of them applying at once is what shrinks a page to a third of its size. Which setting to use for which job, and the UK-specific paper trap.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy is my device charging so slowly?
Why charging speed is negotiated between charger, cable and device rather than fixed, and the order to test the four things that can each quietly cap it.
beginner20 min4 min read
Going deeper: DecisionHQ
Product and option comparisons with explicit criteria, rather than a single recommendation.