3 Must Have Tools To Fix Most Windows Problems Without Help Of A Techie

3 Must Have Tools To Fix Most Windows Problems Without Help Of A Techie3 Must Have Tools To Fix Most Windows Problems Without Help Of A Techie

Windows is a wonderful Operating System because of its diversity and the no. of available third party software for extending its functionality. While Windows runs perfectly when no third party software is installed, but if we keep on installing third party software or do not update Windows with the latest fixes and patches, Windows will start giving problems after sometime.

Most of the Windows problems can be solved using fix tools and a little bit of technical and logical thinking. But this can be done mostly by power users. Most normal users don’t even know what is the problem. Digging the problem out makes finding the solution easier.

In this article, we will provide you with three general tools for fixing the most common Windows problems without hiring a tech firm or calling a techie friend.

Microsoft Fixit Tool

Microsoft Fixit is a wonderful set of tools from Microsoft which can fix the problems encountered by users automatically. You just have to run the appropriate fixit tool and the tool will do its job seamlessly. There are two ways to find and run the fixit tools. You can either go to the Microsoft Fixit website, select your problem and download the fix for it.

Or if you don’t have Internet available on the problematic system, you may download Microsoft Fixit portable tool which downloads all the fixit utilities in one folder and then you can copy that folder on any Windows system to run the fixit tools. Let’s go through the process step by step:

  1. First you’ll need to download Microsoft Fixit Portable. This will download the utility only and the latest fixit tools will be downloaded afterwards.
    Microsoft Fixit loading
  2. Run the downloaded executable and after agreeing to the terms, provide the save location where the actual fixit tools will be downloaded on the local drive.
    Microsoft Fixit agreement
    Microsoft Fixit save location
  3. After pressing the Save button, the application will download a few tools from the Internet.
    Downloading fixit tools
  4. After the download process is complete , you may go to the specified folder and run “Launch Fix it.exe”. This should open the Fixit window. You may select your problem area and run the appropriate fix to solve your problem in Windows.
    Microsoft Fixit

While this Fixit tool will be able to fix most of the problems but if you are unable to find your problem area in this tool, you may use the tools discussed below.

Windows Repair (All in one) by tweaking.com

Windows Repair is a wonderful tool that can fix most of the errors especially resetting settings that have been messed up by the user. Windows Repair can also be highly useful for experienced users who are troubleshooting other user systems. Windows Repair takes a step by step by approach to solving the problems. Let’s understand each step in brief.

  1. Download Windows Repair tool from Tweaking.com. My recommendation is to download the portable version of Windows Repair which you can take anywhere for troubleshooting.
  2. Once downloaded, run “Repair_Windows.exe”. This will open Windows Repair Tool.
  3. In the first step, Windows Repair tool suggests that you do a proper power reset of the system. This is different from simple shutdown in that you will need to take unplug all the power sources including the power cable and the battery in case of a laptop so that all the power is gone from the system. This should fix some general problems with the hardware of the computer. You can skip this step if you want.
    Windows Repair power reset
  4. In the second step, you can let Windows Repair Tool download Malware Bytes antivirus and scan your system for malware. Most problems will arise from unwanted software installations, adware, spyware and viruses. This step should get rid of all of them.
    Windows Repair antivirus scanning option
  5. Step 3 lets you run check disk on your system which should fix the data corruption and bad sectors on the hard drive.
    Windows Repair check disk
  6. Step 4 will let you run the system file checker which checks the Windows system files and if any Windows system file has been corrupted by any third party software or a virus, it will be reverted to its original form. Please note that you may need the original installation disc of Windows if system file checker asks for it. If you don’t have the original source of installation, please don’t run this tool until you get one.
    Windows Repair file system checker
  7. Step 5 will let you take the backups of Windows Registry and create a system restore point so that the settings can be reverted if anything goes wrong in the next steps.
    Windows Repair backup
  8. The next tab “Repairs” will let you open the repairs window. This will give you a list of repair options that are available to you. You may check the items that you want to reset or repair.
    Windows Repair repair optionsIf you don’t have any idea about the problem you are facing, then you should follow all the steps as advised by Windows Repair utility. Otherwise, you can jump straight to the backup step and then open the actual tools to run the repairs.

FixWin by The Windows Club

FixWin is another very useful program from The Windows Club. It sports a very clean user interface as compared to Windows Repair discussed above. The categorization of problems and fixes is also better very much like Microsoft Fixit. You can select the area you’re facing problem in and then select the exact fix.

FixWin 2.0 Welcome

The welcome screen will let you run the system file checker and create a restore point. Please note that you should only run the system file checker if you have the original Windows source files.

If your problem is not solved even after running the system file checker, then you can move forward and select one category from the left hand menu. The categories include File Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, Modern UI, System Tools, Troubleshooters and Additional Fixes.

FixWin system tools

There are two versions of FixWin. FixWin 1.x can be run on Windows 7 or earlier Operating Systems while for Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, you have to use FixWin 2.x.

Download FixWin for Windows 7 @ The Windows Club

Download FixWin for Windows 8/8.1 @ The Windows Club

I have tried many other tools but didn’t find them very useful or unique or some of them had not been updated for quite some time. I have not mentioned them here. If you know of any useful Windows fixing utility, please do share with us in the comments below.

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Usman Khurshid
Usman Khurshid is a seasoned IT Pro with over 15 years of experience in the IT industry. He has experience in everything from IT support, helpdesk, sysadmin, network admin, and cloud computing. He is also certified in Microsoft Technologies (MCTS and MCSA) and also Cisco Certified Professional in Routing and Switching.

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