Any problem that occurs on your network has happened before to somebody else. You have an excellent chance of finding a description of the problem and instructions for fixing it someplace on the Internet.
This is where defining the problem carefully becomes important. If you're working with a Windows-based network, the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com/ can be particularly useful; if Microsoft's technical support people have ever had to deal with a particular problem, they have probably included instructions for fixing it in the Knowledge Base. Similar resources exist for Macintosh networks and servers at http://www.apple.com/support, and for Unix and Linux systems in the Support sections of each distribution's website.
Other online sources for useful troubleshooting information include manufacturers' technical support centers, independent newsgroups and web forums, and sites such as Wikipedia and HowStuffWorks.com that offer descriptions and explanations of various types of technology. If those sites don't answer your question, try a more general web search. Type a few keywords that describe the problem (such as "XP can't find network printer") or the exact text of an error message into a web search tool and follow each of the links to read about other people's experiences under similar circumstances. Remember that quotation marks around phrases instruct the search sites to search for the entire phrase rather than individual words.
One particularly helpful tool for troubleshooting networks is the Windows Network Problem Solver at http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm, shown in Figure 17-1. The Problem Solver is an interactive list of symptoms that links to instructions for solving the most likely cause of the problem. If you take the time to carefully answer each of the questions in the problem definition form, the Problem Solver can be a remarkably effective tool.
