As a Computer Graduate, I thought I'd try and share some of my knowledge with you on different areas of IT.
We all know that technology is slowly taking over and most jobs in some format require a basic understanding of computers and IT in general. For some people these things will come very easy and for others they'll be sat looking blank at a screen.
When these technologies work and run fine they are amazing, but when they go wrong oh boy they throw a spanner in the works and panic people.
When they do go wrong some people may pick up the phone and ask for help from a friend, family member or even the IT Help Desks.
How many of you have had the lucky task of ringing a IT Helpdesk? Quiet a few I guess at some point. So we all know how hard it can be to either understand what they are saying or to even find what they are on about.
Ever heard the phrases....
I'm going to remote access your computer?
Is it plugged in?
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
If you open you the web browser?
Open Command Prompt!
These things in itself are confusing to read let alone trying to do it whilst on the phone.
I think I speak for most people when they say "Have you tried turning it off and back on again" Is really annoying!
Well as much as it is annoying anything simple that goes wrong like WIFI (Internet) dropping out, running slow can be fixed by restarting you Laptop, Tablet, Computer or even your phone.
It sounds silly I know but sometimes it just needs a reset for any updates to go through fully or install or realign with your product. Most things can be solved by restarting the device your using.
For phones it realigns you with the network your on, or allows the updates to go through.
For Laptops and Desktop Computers, it can reset the adaptors, drivers or the physical equipment within your system. This can be from them going into sleep mode (being left unattended too long), an update to the software from Windows or Mac, or a system item that has just decided to crash.
I'm not saying everything can be resolved by "Turning it off and on again" but some of the simplest things can be.
Always save your work if you are leaving you computer for long periods.
For example, answering the phone, answering the door, cooking dinner, tea etc, picking the kids up from school, or taking some time out with the kids, going for a walk. whatever you decide to do always save the work as you never know when something can freeze, update or install whilst your away from you device.
Another thing can be cause things to stop working or running slow is power cuts or power surges when there's a quick break in the electric, these items may not seem to be a cause of a simple issue but it can be enough for the system to jump into protection mode and crash things, or lose the work you are doing. This is just another example of why its important to save your work regularly.
There are so many things that can go wrong, when you least expect or need it to go right as your on a deadline or personal target, however everyone at some point will run into IT issues at some point. My aim is to help take away some of the panic and worry when things do go wrong.
I hope this blog helps you to understand why sometimes the annoying "Have you turned it off and on again" can infact be a good thing to try first before jumping on the phone to an IT Help Desk and wasting time for them to tell you to do exactly this.
Please check out my other blogs to help you gain more knowledge on simple IT tasks.
Always remember you're stronger than you believe
Maria