I made this on another forum, and they stickied it so obviously it's good.

So, I'll share it here.

--Posting original version in 3... 2... 1... go--

Looking at some of these questions, anyone who knows anything about computers can tell that you guys just don't know what you're doing. Most of us are fine with that. However, we need to know information about your computer before we can help you. Therefore, here's a little guide on what to include in your question.

NOTE: All of this is calibrated to Windows. If you need help on getting the info below in a Mac or Linux, ask someone who knows more about those systems.

First and foremost: Proper grammar and spelling.
It doesn't help to ask a question if you're speaking retardese, right?

Second: The question.

Which is why you make the thread... I suppose.

Third: OS.

Because i've had people ask what an OS is: It's short for Operating System. All you have to do is tell us if your computer runs XP, Vista, Ubuntu, OSX, or some other OS. This is something that we need most of the time.

Also, please add if it's 32 bit or 64 bit. I'm not sure exactly how to find that info, but you can google it.

Fourth: RAM.
In order to get RAM on Windows computers:

Press Winkey+R or go to Run in the start menu

Type DXDIAG

On the first page it'll say "Memory"

The number there is your amount of RAM.


This is required for game-related problems.


Fifth: Graphics card

This is normally only required for game questions.


To find graphics card:

Do DXDIAG like in RAM.

Go to the DISPLAY tab

Then look in DEVICE box

It'll be next to Name.

QUICK ANSWER: If a game is running slowly (Like low FPS), turn the graphics settings all the way down, then gradually go up. If it's slow even on lowest settings, then post your question.


Sixth: Your CPU.
This is another deciding factor in performance of applications.

In order to find CPU (This is a sort of advanced way, and for vista. Google if you can't follow this):


Go to Control Panel

Click "Hardware and Sound"

Click "Device Manager"

You'll get a UAC prompt. Just click Allow or whatever it says

Click on the pulldown that says processors

Type what it says there.

If it has more than one, that just means it's a multi-core. Just ignore the others.





That's all there is for a regular question. They may ask you for more information for problem-specific stuff, like your network card.

If I've missed anything, feel free to tell me.

*stickied*

Good thread, by the way.

Forgot to tell you this is for games mostly.

Nice one, Jared! Sure helped my laptop with Gaming

A quicker, easer way to find all the above mentioned information is press winkey + r and type msinfo32.exe This opens a windows with everything we will need to know about your computer however you can not copy and paste it, so either type what you want to disclose

or

Press winkey + r and type cmd and then press enter. You will get a command prompt. Type "systeminfo.exe>info.txt" (without the quotes) you have just created a file called info.txt, and it contains the same information that you could view from msinfo32. Now using windows search find the file (open search and type info.txt). Once you find the file double click on it and copypaste all the info you want to give away; HOWEVER BE WARENED That your Windows ID is contained with in this file I recommend that you remove that line or at least some of the characters of your ID.

You can copy the contents of System Information even more easily like this:
Run -> msinfo32
Edit -> Select All
Edit -> Copy

Msinfo32 does not invclude graphics cards, which is necessary in computer game or graphics design software errors.