The Reboot

by Kelly Brown

We are all aware that usually the best and quickest fix for a misbehaving personal computer (PC) is to reboot it. This is true for other electronics around the house too; laptops, tablets, printers, cell phones, and smart watches and TVs. Simply turning off your device (or shutting them down) and then turning them back on is going to fix your problem 9 out of 10 times. Just be aware that if your device goes on the fritz while you are in the middle of working on something, your progress will more than likely be lost.

For smart TVs and Fire TV sticks you’ll want to actually unplug these devices from the wall outlet (or pull the power plug out from the back of the device, AFTER you have turned it off of course) and leave them unplugged for at least 30 seconds before plugging them back in.

Occasionally, apps on your cell phone misbehave as well and stop working the way they are supposed to. If this happens there is a quick fix for that too. It works on the same principle as rebooting your devices. All you have to do is delete the trouble making app off of your device and then redownload it.  

If after you’ve rebooted your device (or deleted and redownloaded your app) it still isn’t working properly, the next step is to call tech support. This is not generally how anyone wants to spend an afternoon but, once you’ve actually gotten a hold of a technician, they really are the best people to talk to about your device. A word of warning though, the first thing they are likely going to ask you to do is to restart your device!