Troubleshooting 101

Submitted by Rick on October 17, 2007 - 10:40pm.

By now many of you have figured out that computers are unruly beasts. They seem to be fine one day and schizophrenic the next. As a person who troubleshoots computers for a living, I'm going to let you in on a little trade secret. 

When something on your computer seems to be a little left of center, stop and ask yourself three questions:

  1. Have I installed or deleted any software (computer program) in the last day or so?
  2. Have I installed or uninstalled any hardware (mouse, scanner, printer, camera, etc) in the last day or so?
  3. Have I shut down and restarted my computer in the last day or so?

If you answer 'no' to all three questions, then shut down your computer for a minute or so and then restart it. An overwhelmingly large percentage of the time, this action alone will correct the flaw. 

If you answered 'yes' to question one or two, then retrace your steps and make sure that everything installed as planned, or try uninstalling (or reinstalling) the most recent item and see how your computer reacts. If it works fine, then one of the new items added (or items taken away) has caused the problem..

If problems are still occurning and you use Windows XP, try using System Restore which I describe here.

And finally, ALWAYS check your computer cables. Cables can be jostled loose through moving a computer or animals wagging their tails or becoming entangled in the mess of wires. Making sure they are securely plugged in cures many a compute ailment. Just remember to shut the computer off before checking the plugs.

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