Always perform Hardware Tests First!

When a computer comes in to the shop we always run hardware diagnostics on the computer before we treat it for any of the software symptoms. It does not do any good to reinstall your operating system, or try and remove viruses if your hard drive is failing, or your memory is causing the computer to lockup at various times. So a tip to anyone wanting to work on computers.... always perform hardware tests before you do ANYTHING else. Also don't rely on quick hard drive tests to give you an accurate result. If you feel that the hard drive is the problem, but the quick hard drive tests pass.... follow up and do a full hard drive test. It may take you all day to finish the full test, but it will almost definetely show errors that the quick test will skip.