A user interface help dialog for a computer system is provided in which the computer system has a plurality of system parameters and the user interface includes a plurality of command options that may be enabled or disabled. A cursor for indicating one of the command options is also provided. To generate the help dialog the identity of a disabled command option to which the cursor indicates is first identified. The status of a subset of the system parameters is then evaluated, the system parameters subset being determined in dependence on the identified command option. A help dialog to be displayed to the user is then generated, the content of which is dependent on the status of the evaluated system parameters.