It doesn't matter if it's SQL Server, IIS, a background agent, or a custom app — when a Windows service goes down, the investigation is always the same five moves. Learn the pattern once, apply it to anything. 🚫 Don't restart first. Restarting a service without knowing why it stopped can hide a real problem — a failing update, an exhausted host, or an automation script that will stop it again in the next cycle. Spend 5 minutes on the evidence first. Step 01 — Confirm Curr...