Computer Problems? - Reboot First!

When your computer misbehaves, a simple restart may be all that is necessary to set things right. I've lost count of the amount of times that recommending a reboot has solved a friend's computer problem without further ado.

Glitches during normal operating can mean that important support files or programs that run in the background can be closed or corrupted. Conversely, remnants of improperly terminated programs may run unnoticed, wreaking havoc as they go. Such problems can mean that your software and hardware may not work as expected. By shutting down and restarting the computer, you are effectively starting afresh. During the reboot, files, services and programs are properly closed. Fresh new copies of the files needed to run your operating system and support your hardware are then loaded from the computer's hard drive during start-up.

Once the restart is complete you will often find that the original problem has disappeared. Therefore, almost always, my very first step when I'm trying to solve a computer problem is to reboot. Here are just a few of the problems that I have "fixed" by rebooting (or recommending a reboot to the caller or emailer).

ADSL connection lost
Printer not responding
Software would not load photos from digital camera
Could not "see" other computers on home network
Monitor display corrupted (washed out colours)
Computer suddenly very slow to respond
Program "frozen" at splash screen
Program refused to load

If you contact technical support about a computer problem, in many cases they will suggest restarting the computer before they move on to other possible solutions. Of course, rebooting may only be a temporary fix. If the same problem keeps occurring, then you will need to track down the underlying cause.

Naturally, rebooting will not solve all the computer problems that you are likely to encounter. However, in many instances, it is a very useful first step and may ultimately save you a lot of frustration and lost productivity.

Read other computer troubleshooting suggestions.
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