Most people really don’t look after their computers, and in this online world, that usually results in a broken windows installation that YOU – that person’s friendly tech – could be tasked to fix. Now, I personally believe that a re-install is a last resort, but sometimes it really is the only option.

If that PC isn’t a brand name system, do yourself a favour by familiarising yourself with every piece of hardware that will need a driver BEFORE you wipe the hard drive. Windows itself tells you very little, so if at all possible, install a free system information tool like Belarc Advisor ([http://www.download.com/Belarc-Advisor/3000-2094_4-10574794.html?tag=lst-0-1]) or my favourite – the sadly discontinued Everest Home Edition ([http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Everest-Home-Edition.shtml]).

This will save you the trouble (and eye strain!) of looking for tiny product codes on the various components in the system. These excellent programs have more uses than just this one, of course. Everest is one of the first programs I install on every system I work with.