Don't Throw It Out Of The Window Just Yet: How To Make Your Technology Work

‘Turn it off and turn it on again’. This is the advice that’s given to pretty much everyone whose technology isn’t working, and we’ve all tried it.

We reach for the off button, hold it down, wait for the screen to go dark. Then we wait for a torturous ten seconds counting them out, and turn our devices back on again, holding our breath in the desperate hope that it will have decided to start working again.

But sometimes this tried and tested method lets us down and we’re forced to look around for other ways to fix our technology.

​Here are some tips to erase your frustration and make you feel excited about tech again.

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If Your Laptop Won’t Boot Up

This is often likely to be a problem with your power supply. First of all, make sure that you’re using the right charger – it’s easy to get them mixed up with other ones if you have more than one laptop in your home. Then check the fuse in the plug by removing it and installing one that you know works. Finally, check the wires themselves and make sure you can’t see any of their coloured casing where the cable has started to fray. You should also remove memory cards and USB drives before trying to boot your computer up in safe mode.

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If You Can’t Connect To Your Wifi

A photo posted by SashaTalksTech (@sashatalkstech) on Mar 10, 2016 at 12:47pm PST

​First of all, make sure that the internet is enabled on your laptop. A lot of machines have switches on the outside to turn wifi on and off that you may have accidentally flipped to the off position. If it still isn’t working, go to DownDetector on your phone to see if your ISP (internet service provider) is down – if your area is red, there could be an outage near where you live. Then check out the lights on your router – you should be able to see the correct ones flickering (this is different on every router!). Sometimes your issue is that you need to invest in a new router – check reviews online for models like the Motorola SB6121. Make sure you talk to your provider as you get your new tech all hooked up.

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If You Spill Something On Your Device

​We’ve all done this, and then felt the inevitable despair as your heart sinks inside your chest. First things first: if your partner has spilled their coffee on your laptop, do not immediately start searching for divorce lawyers on your phone. If your child has projectile vomited over your keyboard, stop your fantasies about giving them up for adoption. Mistakes happen all the time in everyday family life and that’s okay. First of all, turn off your device as quickly as you can. One reason that liquids are bad for your devices is that the contents of them often conduct electricity and can short circuit your computer. Then remove all cables and drives and removable parts and turn your laptop upside down to drain. Remove your keyboard to clean if you spilled anything except water. Then wait as long as you can before turning it on again.

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