We are in 2010 dose not mean that computers will stop giving problems. Even in 2010 technology is not that advance to fix their own problems. So someone need to troubleshoot problems as they arrive. Lets have a couple of simple hacks and tricks that can be used to fix any computer problem.
Most of us think that computers are perfect or suppose to be perfect and get frustrated when something goes wrong. That is wrong and computers can only do what you program it to do and if somethings small goes wrong it start giving problems. So you need to fix it.
People think that if it is related to computers then it is too complicated and you need to learn about it to fix it. But what you learn in school or university will not help much when it come to troubleshoot.
One more thing that if you are scared of things will go worse with your action then you might have difficulties trying out new things and troubleshooting.
Whats is the problem?
Before you start doing anything you need to identify that there is a problem. It is easy. If things dose not work as it was before or giving out error messages or warnings or if it dose not do what it suppose to do then there is a problem. Identifying the problem is the most important part of troubleshooting. That is the one most of us dose not pay much attention.
What cause the problem?
After identifying the problem then try to look for the reason for it. If there is any error message it will give most of the information you need. Most of the modern operating systems and programs have detailed error or warnings that tell what cause the problem.
Even if you get a error code you can always refer to its documentation or use Google to get the explanation and more details about the problem.
In some cases you will not find any error or warning message. For example if keyboard is not responding or CD/DVD ROM is not been detected or computer is too slow kind of scenarios will not leave any error messages. So try to collect as much information as possible.
What are the related software hardware components?
Which actions cause the error?
Above are two good questions that you should answer to get a idea about the problem. On top of that before you move to the next step try to get more information about the environment as well.
What Operating System (OS) are you using?
What is the OS Service Pack or Software Version?
What are the other programs that run in the background?
What are the last couples of changes you have done? (Upgrade/Installed new Software)
More related questions you try to answer related to your problem with make it easy to solve it as you get better unresting.
What is the solution to the problem?
As you gather more information about the computer or internet related problem will make it easy to look for a solution.
1. If you have solved a similar or exactly the same problem then the solutions for your problem will be to apply similar. That is base on your experience and with time you will gather more and more experience you will be able to troubleshoot tech problems pretty easily.
2. Even without any prior knowledge you can find a way to solve your tech problem.
You are not the first person to go through PROBLEM A.
Most of the cases (99% of time) you will notice that you are not the only one to face that problem or the first one to be. So you can always get help from others who have solved the problem. If you gone through blogs or forums related to your problem then you will notice how many people were gone through the same problem.
I use Google to find these forums and blogs which gives out step by step guides to solve tech problems. Great but how do you know whether it is going to work out. Small trick you need to do is to scan through the comments below the post or the conversations going on in the forums to see what others been saying. Because all the time you will not find the working solutions.
Another important fact when it comes to Googling is to use the appropriate search term.
1. Use the exact error message or code.
In this way you will be able to find the most appropriate solutions from Google. I will always try to copy and paste the exact error message in Google or in the documentations.
2. Use the exact error message or code with the software/OS/website/ name and version.
If the error message is generic you have to use the name of the software, application, OS or website with its version details with the error message to see the related discussion and solutions with Google.
3. Description of your problem with software/OS/website/ name and version
If there is no error message or code then you have to use a little description of the problem and all the other details related to the issue. That can be the operating system, software name or version details.
Always it is better to mix up the keywords or add and remove keywords to optimize the search result for your problem.
After going through the solutions and related comments and replies if you feel like that you cannot fix it or there is a high probability to make thing worst then always better to get someone else help. Even though you are not going to fix it by yourself knowing the problem and the solution is a great help when you try to look for help.
How to fix it?
Here comes the fun part. Fixing the problem. Until now what we did is to understand the problem and solutions to it. So now we need to apply it and get our problem solved.
1. First thing first. It is always better to backup your content and system as some times things can go wrong. If something can go wrong it will (Murphy's law). Unless your operating system is crashed or files are corrupted you have a chance to back up all your content before you try troubleshooting. In most of the step by step guides they will instruct you to backup if what you are trying to do can cause any damage to the data.
When it comes to system back up System Restore comes in handy as you can roll back to previous state of you computer if your troubleshooting created further problems and if you feel like it is getting worst and worst.
2. Then take couple of deep breaths and follow the solution that you found out. It is really important to be patience even things are not going great. That helps to over come the problems.
3. After going through the instructions sometimes you might end up without solving the problem. In worst case it might brings up a new problem. Do not blame anyone as that is quite common with computers. In such situation you need to go back to first step and follow the steps to get it fix.
This is quite general way to solve problems but I have tried this to solve many problems as it comes. Always a positive mind set will help you to get through any difficult situation with your computer or related issues.
