If your machine freezes completely and won’t respond to shutting down, hold the off/on button for 5—10 seconds and power
will be shut off allowing you to restart hopefully normally. If you get an option to ‘repair the machine’ or ‘restart
normally’ always use the arrow keys to select ‘restart normally’ and only if this fails to use the repair option.
Be extremely wary of software that offers to ‘speed up’ or ‘optimize’ the performance of your machine. They will not
cure problems. They perform no useful purpose above the maintenance tasks that Windows 7 and later systems are quite
capable of carrying out automatically. Indeed, they will not only be a waste of money but there is a great danger that
they will corrupt your machine.
The most common cause of poor performance is unnecessary software that users have been tempted to install following
impromptu advertising.
NEVER, EVER, let someone take over your machine during a telephone call you have received, no matter how dire the
threats. These scammers pretend to be from Microsoft, BT, or ’your service provider’ and will try every trick in the
book to let them take control of your machine or get you to give them your credit/ debit card details. None of these
genuine companies will ever phone you unsolicited.
