Yesterday, I had an issue with my trackpad. I started down the road to making a Genius Bar appointment, resigned to living without my computer for a few days while Apple has a swing at repairing the problem.

As it turns out, Apple called me, was able to talk me through the repair so I didn’t have to so much as get out of my chair. Here’s that post, in case you are interested.

Point being, the best repairs are the ones you do yourself. To that end, spend a few minutes reading Joe Caiati’s Mac troubleshooting guide, posted on 512 Pixels.

Joe is a former Apple Genius and writes from hard-won experience. He walks you through a very logical sequence, starting here:

When you’re tackling an issue on your Mac, there are three overall troubleshooting categories you must keep in mind. Is the issue software, hardware or environmental? It sounds very basic, but figuring out which category your problem fits into will get you far when diagnosing it.

Great place to start if you are having trouble with your Mac.