Three Of The Most Common IT Problems

If you have ever watched a comedy called The IT Crowd, you may remember that the IT guy would often answer a call with the line:

“Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?”

It usually raised a laugh, and the reason it did so was that it wasn’t that far from the truth. A lot of IT issues can be solved by turning things off and on. So, with that in mind, here are the three most common problems I see or hear and the first things to always try in those situations:

Problem One: “I can’t get my Internet/email/Google”

The first thing to try: Turn the router — Internet box, Hub, that box in the corner with the lights on it — off and on. In other words, kill the power to it by any means possible, leave it 10 seconds, and switch it back on. Wait for around 5 minutes for the router to sort itself out and try again.

Also, while this is happening, restart your computer or device. Check out Problem Three for more details on this.

Problem Two: “My printer isn’t printing.”

The first thing to try: Turn your printer off and on, restart your computer or device — more details on problem three — and, if the printer connects wirelessly, turn your router off and on as mentioned in the first problem. You can do this in any order but make sure everything has restarted fully before trying to print again. (Although you will likely find it has starting printing what you wanted anyway)

It is the turning off and back on of the router that most people don’t realise may help. If your printer is wireless, your computer or device sends the details to the printer via the router. The router then “routes” that information to the printer. Or it should. Sometimes it doesn’t, and then things don’t print. Turning the router off and on usually cures that issue.

Problem Three: “My computer/Tablet/Phone isn’t……(Fill in the blank)

The first thing to try: If you can get to the main screen, restart the device. You may notice that I said Restart rather than turn off and on. While that is essentially the same thing on some devices — iPhone/iPad as an example- on computers (Windows 10 especially) and most other devices, a restart/reboot is the best thing you can try.

So for any niggle you may have, look for the Restart or Reboot option — not Shut Down — and wait for the device to restart. Hopefully, once it does, your problem will have gone away.

Originally published at https://www.mittas.co.uk on June 21, 2019.