Category: Laptops & PCs

Windows and Mac troubleshooting — boot problems, overheating, slowdowns and drivers.

Printer Says Offline When It Is Clearly On? Windows Is Usually Wrong

The offline status is Windows guessing, and it guesses wrong often. Here is how to clear it properly and stop it recurring.

A keyboard that drops after a minute of inactivity is being put to sleep by the computer, not failing. The setting is…

High browser memory use is mostly by design. The genuine problems are extensions and a handful of tabs, and both are easy…

Windows and macOS both keep a detailed battery report. It usually names the culprit in under a minute, and it is rarely…

A stuttering wireless mouse is nearly always a USB 3 port, a dying battery or the surface it is sitting on. All…

A laptop that starts fast and gets progressively slower is protecting itself from heat. Here is how to confirm it and what…

Windows hides tens of gigabytes in update leftovers, hibernation files and restore points. Here is how to reclaim them safely.

A second screen that stays black is usually a cable, an input source, or a display setting. Here is how to work…

When the at sign and the quote marks swap places, your keyboard layout has changed. Here is how to set it back…

Most dead touchpads have simply been switched off by a function key or by plugging in a mouse. Here is the order…

Most updates that look frozen are working. Here is how to tell a genuinely stuck update from a slow one, and how…

Plugged in and not charging has four possible causes: the charger, the port, the battery, or a software setting deliberately holding the…