15 Problems That Your Plague Your PC
And How to Solve Them


--by Karen Kenworthy, Contributing Editor, Fred Langa, Senior 
Consulting Editor, John Woram, Consulting Editor, Serdar 
Yegulalp, Technology Editor


** Problem No 12: My favorite app keeps crashing. **

Solution:
Sometimes, a crash is just a transient problem remedied by a 
reboot. But if a problem persists (for example, if you crash 
at the same point in an app or process every time), or if your 
app won't run at all, what then?

First, make sure the problem isn't the result of 
malfunctioning software by checking the vendor's Web site for 
patches or updates. Next, try a simple reinstall over the 
existing app. In most cases, this preserves any settings 
changes you made but will correct erroneous settings and 
replace corrupted DLLs.

If a simple reinstall doesn't work, try completely uninstalling 
the errant software, then rebooting and reinstalling from 
scratch. A clean start will often correct pernicious problems.


 1998 Windows Magazine, April 1999, Page 112.