• Which of our products are you using?
• In the case of error messages we'll need the complete content of the message. Saying "I got an error message", or "I got a crash" is not enough. We need to know exactly what the error message said.
• Details of your system configuration. We don't need enormous detail at first, but will probably need to know at least what Operating System you are running (Windows, 95, 98, NT, 2000, ME, XP) and anything else you think might be relevant.
• The version number (and if present build number) of the product you are running. You can find the version number in the About box. For most of our programs you can access the About box from a menu by clicking Help | About.
• A way to reproduce the problem. Basically a list of steps that you took, what you expected to happen, what did happen and (if it wasn't a crash) why it isn't what you expected.

There are also some things we don't need. Please don't send large attachments, copies of data files, the zipped up contents of your Windows directory, huge true-color screenshots of four word error messages and the like. If we need copies of anything we will let you know, and let you know how to get them to us.