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Last updated: September 15, 2026
Short version: our guides are written carefully and tested before publishing, but computers vary. Back up your files before you change anything, and understand that following any instructions from any website is ultimately your own decision.
The rest of this page explains that properly.
Everything on GuidingCents — guides, articles, and answers to questions sent through the contact form — is provided for general information and education.
We test our guides on real machines before publishing and correct them when they stop matching reality. We still can’t guarantee that any guide is accurate, complete, or applicable to your particular computer. Hardware differs, Windows versions differ, and a step that works on one machine may behave differently on another.
You use this information at your own risk.
GuidingCents doesn’t provide professional IT support, managed services, or computer repair. We publish guides and answer questions by email, for free.
What that means practically:
This is the most important thing on this page.
Any troubleshooting can result in data loss. Sometimes because a step goes wrong; sometimes because a drive was already failing and the act of reading from it finished the job. Both happen.
Before following any guide here or anywhere else, copy anything you’d be upset to lose to an external drive or cloud storage. If your computer is behaving in a way that suggests a failing drive — unusual noises, files disappearing, repeated freezes — back up first and troubleshoot second.
We are not responsible for data lost while following our instructions.
Some of our guides involve opening a computer: reapplying thermal paste, installing RAM, cleaning a fan.
These carry real risks that no set of instructions removes:
If you’re not comfortable doing the work, don’t. A repair shop costs less than a replacement motherboard.
Some guides involve changing Windows settings, editing the registry, updating drivers, or running commands in Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Changes like these can affect system stability, disable features you rely on, or in some cases prevent Windows from booting. Create a restore point before making significant changes, and read the whole guide before starting rather than following along step by step.
We aren’t responsible for system problems that result from changes you make.
Where a guide mentions software we didn’t write, we’re describing it — not vouching for it. Download from official sources only, and read the licence terms yourself.
Links to other websites are provided for convenience. We don’t control what’s on them and aren’t responsible for their content, accuracy, or privacy practices.
Windows, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Edge are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names are the property of their owners.
GuidingCents is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft or any other company mentioned on this site. We reference products by name to describe them, as permitted.
Windows and Office change constantly. Menus move, settings get renamed, and features disappear between versions.
We update guides when we find them out of step and note the date on each one. But if a step doesn’t match what’s on your screen, trust your screen over our screenshot — and please tell us, so we can fix it.
[Include this section only while it’s true. Delete it the day you add your first affiliate link or ad unit.]
GuidingCents runs no advertising and earns no affiliate commission. When a guide recommends something, it’s because it works — nobody has paid us to mention it.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, GuidingCents and Roberto Gregoire accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from use of this site or reliance on anything published here. This includes data loss, hardware damage, lost time, lost income, and consequential losses.
By using this site you accept that any action you take based on its content is your own decision and your own responsibility.