Mitch Tulloch, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and lead author of the just-published (and hot-selling) Windows 7 Resource Kit (Microsoft Press, 2010; ISBN: 9780735627000; 1760 pages), has created a short e-book called “What You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support.” Here are the opening paragraphs...

Automated diagnostics, new online forums, and “Fix its” in Windows 7 help customers help themselves. For routine computing issues, it’s not always convenient to call a customer support line and talk to a technology professional. Wouldn’t it be nice if the software could fix itself, or at least point...