When to Get Tech Support

Aloha!

If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! OK, so you know who to call when you've got spooks flying about. But who do you call when your computer is possessed?

Well, the first thing is to identify the problem the best you can. Is your email down? Web browsing slowed or not working? Computer not starting or shutting off while in use? There are a myriad of problems and causes, way too many to address here. But here are some pointers.

If your email is down, call your Internet provider, such as Hawaiian Telcom. That is, if you get your email through your provider. If you get email from a webmail system, like yahoo, then likely your browser or Internet service is the culprit. If the latter, call your provider. If the browser, you may have corrupted software or malware. Update your security software and run a scan. If no luck, do some research on the web. Perhaps other people have had the same problem and have posted a solution. If not, then call a computer service technician.

If your computer won't start or shuts off by itself, call the computer manufacturer if the computer is under warranty. That's the best place to start with any serious problem if you are in the warranty period. It's free. Otherwise, you've got to pay a tech.

If Windows has started acting buggy, you can do a System Restore, where you roll the computer back to a date when it was working well, like yesterday, a few days ago, or earlier. Restore will not affect your data (but back it up anyways prior to restoring). If no luck with restore, call a tech.

Sometimes you can bring a computer back to sanity by closing all programs, saving your files, and shutting it down. Walk away, get a breath of fresh air, and come back in 10-15 minutes. Turn it back on. Maybe it will work just fine now. That's called the OFF-ON trick. I advise my clients to shut down their computers at least once per week to clear out the memory.

One last piece of advice: If you do hire a tech to service your system or you send it back to the manufacturer for warranty repair, make sure to back up all your important data beforehand. Even the most well-intentioned tech can experience problems that cause data damage or loss while working on your system. And as for possession (by spirits), before tackling any computer troubleshooting, say some prayers. If not for the computer, then at least for yourself. Nothing brings out the inner darkness quite like the frustration of a computer glitch.

Wishing you akamai computing!