From web hosting to working with your own personal computer,
everything breaks down every once in a while and you need
it fixed. I work in the business of solving problems, so
I thought for this week’s article it might be a good
idea to share some of my best troubleshooting tips to fight
the woes of technology.
My first and probably best tip I can give anybody is to
read the instructions. You know, those things still wrapped
in plastic that you threw to the side so you could start
“playing”? If the thing having problems did
not come with any instructions then they must have a web
site online. Here you can usually find support forums, frequently
asked questions and basic answers to some of the problems
there are with whatever you are working on. An even better
suggestion would be to ask around, because if the problem
happened to you it has bound to have happened to somebody
else as well. Doing a search on Google about the problem
can sometimes lead you in the right direction to read about
how others solved the problem you are sweating over right
now.
Another tip that I could not live without is to back track
your progress. What did you do right before the problem
happened? Did something else happen around you that you
might not have thought about? For just about any problem
that you might have you can always back track to when you
weren’t having the problem and then try to troubleshoot
from there. What did you do first, second and third? Could
sticking that piece of toast in your printer caused it to
jam up? Now we are getting somewhere.
Still lost? Have no fear, because this next tip is bound
to help you out at least a little bit. Sometimes when things
are not going as they should be it is a good idea just to
try to get rid of the program, script or file and start
over fresh or even re-install over the problem again. Sometimes
flaws that you had the first time can be patched or fixed
when you install the second time around. Many times when
you can’t delete a program off of your computer then
re-installing can put it back into place so that you can
do it correctly this time around.
The last and probably easiest troubleshooting tip I can
give you is to look around and investigate the problem for
yourself. Is your monitor not working? Then check the cables
in the back and make sure you are making a secure connection
on both ends. I can not even count the number of times I’ve
been made to look like a fool by tech support because of
a simple mistake or error on my part. There’s nothing
to be ashamed of though because even if it happens to you,
you have learned from the experience itself at least.
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