They usually don't have anything helpful printed or marked on them to help identify good from bad. Best you try them with good known functional HW, like your phone perhaps? If the phone doesn't show up in Device Manager, probably not a good cable. Similarly if you connect to USB-to-Serial dongle device with Micro-USB
Charger cables tend to be no good because they often just provide the power connections, and not the data connections. Micro-USB ones particularly as they are used as phone charging cables.
Problems are also likely to occur with Hubs and Docking Stations, and especially with DELL machines. Or corporate desktops/laptops where policies preclude attaching USB mass-storage devices for security or protection purposes.
