Say what?

The little lights on the front of PCs are often misunderstood, since people can't be bothered reading the manual to find out what they do. So here I'm going to try correct it.

Your average, everyday PC either has two (usual) or 3 (Late 1990s) little lights on the front. One of them is likely to turn on in a nice green colour when you push the power switch. This is your power button, and indicates the system is turned on. if it is yellow, red, flashing or not on at all then make sure everything is plugged in (at both ends) and the socket is turned on. If there is a power cut then give up and try later.

The next little light will be green or orange and flicker wildly, usually accompanied by a hackling noise. This is your hard disk light, and shows when your hard disk (the bit where you store stuff) is doing something, be it reading or writing. It never, ever shows when your PC is 'doing something' like processing, although it usually accompanies this activity unless you have oodles of RAM.

The final light is optional, and can easily be recognised by pushing the button labelled "Turbo". If nothing happens then ignore it, your PC will work just as well. If it does light up, then all it means is that 'Turbo' mode (which usually slows performance) is on.

The next person to say "It's not working, no lights are flashing" will have me to deal with. Learn it now, before PCs start looking like something from Star Trek.