Computer or laptop playing up? Here's how to use AI to try to fix it yourself
An error message that means nothing to you. A laptop that's mysteriously slowed to a crawl. Wifi that reaches the kitchen perfectly well but gives up the moment you walk upstairs. Computer problems have a particular way of making sensible people feel foolish — usually because the advice you find online assumes you already understand half the words in it.
AI doesn't make that assumption. It will meet you exactly where you are, ask what it actually needs to know, and give you steps in plain English rather than jargon. Used properly, it can talk you through fixes you'd otherwise have paid someone to come and do.
Step one: tell it plainly what you've got and what's wrong
Start with the basics, in your own words. What the device is — laptop, desktop, tablet — and roughly how old it is if you know. Then describe exactly what's happening: not "it's not working," but the actual message on screen, what it won't do any more, or what's changed.
Try something like: "I have a [type and rough age of computer] and it's doing [describe exactly what's happening]. Can you help me work out what's wrong and whether I can try to fix it myself?"
Step two: ask for simple steps, in order
Once it understands the problem, ask for a short list of practical steps to try, one at a time, starting with the simplest. "Can you give me the simplest things to try first, in order, before anything more complicated?" That stops you being handed five things to do at once when the answer might just be step one.
Tip for the reader: if it gives you several steps together, or the explanation feels like too much in one go, just say "Can we go through this one step at a time?" It will slow down, deal with one thing, wait for you to say what happened, and only then move to the next step.
Step three: report back and let it adjust
After each step, tell it what happened — even if it's "nothing changed" or "now there's a different message." AI will use that to rule things out and refine its next suggestion, the same way a good engineer would, rather than guessing blindly. The conversation, not a single answer, is where the real value is.
Step four: know when to hand it over
Sometimes the honest answer is that it's a job for a professional, or a call to whoever supports your computer. A good AI tool will tell you this plainly if you ask: "At what point should I stop trying this myself and get help instead?"
How I built my own home mesh network
The job that genuinely surprised me was upgrading my home internet to a mesh system — several small units placed around the house that work together to give every room a strong signal, replacing a single router that simply couldn't reach everywhere. I'd never set one up before and assumed I'd need someone in to do it.
Instead, I described my home, my existing setup, and the mesh system I'd bought, and AI talked me through the entire installation step by step — where to place each unit, how to get them talking to each other, and how to fix the one point that didn't connect first time. I did the whole thing myself, and it works better than the old system ever did. It's the kind of job I'd always assumed was for an engineer, and it simply wasn't.
Questions you can use word for word
"I have a [type of computer] and it's [describe the problem]. What are the simplest things to try first?"
"This error message says [type or describe it exactly]. What does it mean, and how do I try to fix it?"
"I'm setting up a [name of device or system] for the first time. Can you talk me through it step by step?"
"I've tried that and [describe what happened]. What should I try next?"
A word of caution
AI is excellent at the software niggles, settings and set-up jobs that make up the vast majority of everyday computer problems. It's wise to be more cautious with anything that involves opening up the physical machine, or work that would void a warranty if you're not confident doing it. A good AI tool will generally flag this itself if you've told it honestly what you're comfortable attempting — but it's always worth asking outright: "Is this safe for me to do myself, or should I get a professional?"
Fancy trying this yourself?
There's only so much Kevin can fit into a free talk, so jobs like this one are best tackled together, not watched from a chair. Come along to a session and ask for a few minutes afterwards, one-to-one — or book a full hour's coaching and bring along whatever's giving you trouble. Kevin will work through it with you, step by step.
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