Take notes to document the steps you take while troubleshooting

Taking notes while troubleshooting a problem with your Mac might not help you solve the problem faster, but it will help should the problem return. Knowing what you did and what the results were will help you solve similar problems encountered in the future and can also help if you need to call technical support for additional assistance.

Start from the begining

When an application stops responding, or Mac OS X doesn’t work the way you expect, simply forcing the application to quit or restarting the computer will solve the problem.

Isolate the problem

Before you can solve most problems you have to determine the cause. When determining what the problem is, start eliminating points of failure. Start with the easy things to eliminate and work toward the more difficult. In most cases, you’ll focus on software problems before hardware failure.

Determine if the problem is consistant or intermittent

One way to help isolate the problem is to determine if the problem is consistent or intermittent. When troubleshooting an intermittent problem, try to find a pattern to the problem. Often times a problem that appears to be intermittent actually occurs when you perform a specific task, or open a particular file. Once you figure out the pattern, the problem can usually be solved quickly.

Undo recent changes

If you find you start having problems with your Mac after making a configuration change, installing new software, or adding new hardware, try undoing the change or removing the new hardware. In many cases undoing a recent change will solve the problem.