Steps
to figuring out what’s wrong with your computer:
0:
make sure that you’re exercising basic internet safety habits, and before all
else, download antivirus like AVG or Avast and anti-spyware like Spybot: Search and Destroy. Whatever your final choice, make sure it’s
reputable stuff, and that the internet doesn’t hate it too much: certain
commercial products have bad reputations for good reason, and it pays to make
sure you’re not getting duped by marketing or falsely positive online
reviews. As I’m going to say later,
cross-reference every decision you make to alter, add to or especially erase things from your
computer. If you really don’t know where to safely start with protecting your
computer, don’t know the basics of internet safety precautions or get stuck
somewhere, skip to step 4.
1:
figure out the appropriate terminology.
Do a browser search (Google is a common favorite for beginners) in
layman’s terms for the name of the part or system that’s giving you trouble. Ask, “what’s the name for the part in my
computer that lets it show stuff on the screen,” for example. Chances are, there’s someone who also didn’t
know and asked online, or someone who typed up a guide with a handful of simple
terms that will match your search’s terms.
Try with a few different phrasings of the question if the first doesn’t
work, just in case your first terms were off—I suggest from three to six tries,
depending on how general your question is—more for more general stuff, and make
sure to check the first few results even if they don’t turn up what you need in
the titles, as plenty of them have more technical names for their subject
matter early on, to catch the later searches you’ll be doing. If this doesn’t work…
1a:
ask online for help. If you can’t find
even the most basic information about your problem—how to talk about it—it’s
possible that either your terms are still off-target or inexact or that the
question has never been asked before. In
both cases, the internet’s denizens can help you out nearly every time. Ask the question on a generic site like Yahoo Answers or something, or search
for things that sound like they’re related on sites like howstuffworks.com. Honestly,
this is the follow-up step for every problem you have, if you can’t figure out
how to handle it, and it follows any step in this process; if you have a
question, search for an answer. If you’re
getting more esoteric with your questions, you might want to ask on a
specialized forum to get more relevant answers, but since right now you’re just
looking for what to call your problem, stay on the generalist Q&A websites—they’ll
have more people able to answer your question, on average, and you’ll be able
to progress to the next step more easily.
If nothing works, skip to step 4.
Otherwise…
2:
start asking how to fix your problem.
Now that you know the name for it, you can turn right back to the search
engine of your choice and ask, now in appropriate terms, what to do to fix,
say, your graphics card (that thing in charge of putting images on your
computer screen). Sometimes, there are
no answers, though this is still rare until you get really obscure with your
questions, and you might need to ask
the people of the internet for help again, as in step 1a. Regardless, rinse and repeat, clicking
results until you find a solution.
Beware of people trying to give you trouble, as some “trolls” (malicious
attention-seekers) will try to trick you into harming your computer. This is also rare, but an easy way to figure
it out is to cross-reference the answer, as if a question has been asked once,
it’s often been asked twice or more. As
a rule, don’t apply any changes to your computer until you know exactly what
they do, even if making sure means asking another question. Check again with the web by asking what any
specific procedures do, like deleting “system 32” on Windows (it’s a bad thing,
by the way, unless you want your computer to completely stop working, though
that does almost look like it solves
your problem, at a distance and in bad light).
Let’s assume you were thorough, and are certain that you have a legitimate
solution (if you really can’t, skip step 3) …
3:
try to fix your problem. Now that you’ve
found a solution to your problem, try to apply the fix. If it’s entirely software-based, as plenty of
problems are, you can probably download a cross-referenced
program or patch. By now, you probably
also know enough to make sure the website hosting the fix is legitimate, but if
not, perform a search asking “is _____.com legit?” or something similar. Typically, you can find out within thirty
seconds if the site is okay to use.
Now, not every problem is so easy to
solve. If it’s a hardware problem (for
details, ask the net about the difference between software and hardware), or
you turn up nothing for solutions, it’s time to call in heavy support…
4:
ask a real-life person for help. There
are several reasons why this step comes last.
First, if you can fix your problem with the previous steps, you don’t
need to ask anyone else. You have your
own toolkit online. Second, it’s liable
to save you time and possibly money. If
a friend or family member can find the solution online, then you can, too, and you
won’t have to wait for them to become available to fix your problem. If you take it to a computer repair shop,
they will charge you, and if you
could have done the work yourself, you’re generally just losing money
(exceptions apply to high earners, but if you’re one, you probably either don’t
need or don’t want to follow these steps anyway). All this said, if you’re stumped or worried at
any point in this process and need help from someone who understands you and
can interpret your problem, ask a friend “in the know,” and if they’re stuck,
bring the problem to a professional. Now
that you’ve found help…
5:
pay attention. What can happen once can
happen twice. Make sure that if there’s
anything to learn from the situation, you learn it. Don’t hover around whoever is helping you,
but once they’ve fixed the problem or answered your question, ask how they did
it. Professionals might not be able or
willing to say how they diagnosed or fixed your computer, as some things are
done with tools and processes that can’t be easily explained while others are easy
to do and could lose the shop money if you learned how to do them
yourself. Friends and family, however,
are likely glad to share their knowledge, particularly if doing so makes you
better able to solve these problems yourself.
6:
enjoy or destroy your computer. If it
can be fixed, it probably is by now, and you can now use it again. If it’s irreparable, then all that’s left is
to condemn it to a recycling (or, better, upcycling)
facility. Before you send it off, learn
how to erase all your information from the computer, as there are security
risks to leaving it alone.
Did
this list solve your problem? If not, or
if you’d like me to talk about anything else on or off this list that confuses
you (even something completely unrelated), feel free to ask me in the
comments. Until next time,
Antlion.
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