How to use error messages to troubleshoot problems
Whenever you encounter an error message, be it from Windows or any other application you are using, don’t get alarmed. Dealing with errors and error messages is a part of computing.
More often than not, people just don’t have the patience to read the error messages. Sometimes my friends or co-worker call me for troubleshooting. First thing that I ask them is whether they saw any error message and most of the time their reply is ‘Yes, some kind of message popped up but I didn’t read it.’
‘Knowing the problem is half the battle won.’ This applies to everything in life and so to, to computers. Whenever you come across any error message, read it first and see if it makes sense to you. Once you understand the problem, you may be able to find a solution yourself. But if you don’t understand the message or you don’t have a clue as to how to solve it, then the simplest way out is to type out the exact message into Google.
That’s what I usually do. And I find that I get better results if I enclose the message within double quotes. But it is important that if you use double-quotes, you must make sure that you type the message exactly as it appears, including the commas, apostrophe and little things like that. Most of the time, the search engine would lead you to one or more pages that tell what the error message means and how to get rid of it.
Typing out the message is both time consuming and also prone to typos, besides the trouble you may have to take to switch between your browser and the message windows, in case the window is hidden.
Copying the error message and pasting it in Google is the best way to ensure that you are searching for the exact message. But unfortunately, most of these messages cannot be selected or copied in the normal way. This is where Grabtxt can come in useful.
Grabtxt is a tiny tool created by Misbah that lets you copy text from message windows. Using it is pretty easy. It is a single exe file and so there is no installation required. You can just run the file and start using it.
What you see above is definitely not an error message. It is just to demonstrate how grabtxt works.
When you encounter an message window, just click on the large X button in Grabtxt and drag the mouse cursor over the error message. The text message appears on Grabtxt. You can then select the text and just press either the Google button or the Live.com button to search in the respective search engines. I would suggest that before you select the text, type in the double-quotes at the beginning and end of the message.
So, the next time you see an error message, don’t panic. With a little effort, you may be able to troubleshoot yourself.
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