REBOOT YOUR

COMPUTER. 
It may seem like a simple suggestion, but rebooting your computer
will fix many of the problems you may be having. Press the Power
button or use the Shut Down command to safely turn the
computer off. If the computer is not responding, press and hold the
Power button for about five seconds to force the computer to
power off. Allow your computer to sit for about thirty seconds after
being turned off before you turn it back on again.
 TRY TO DETERMINE WHAT
CAUSED THE PROBLEM YOU
ARE HAVING.
Think back to when the computer started having issues. Was a
certain program installed, or a change made to the hardware? Was
something suspicious downloaded, or installed with a program you
got? Was there a power outage and now things aren't working
correctly? Narrowing down the possible cause of the problem will
make it much easier to determine how to proceed.
 CHECK ALL OF THE
CABLES. 

A loose power cable could be preventing your computer from

booting up. A bad surge protector could be the culprit. Your
keyboard or mouse may have come unplugged. Your monitor cable
might be loose. Checking all of your connections will only take a
moment
 PERFORM A GOOGLE
SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM
YOU'RE EXPERIENCING. 
There are countless issues your computer could be experiencing.
Problems can occur with your programs, operating system,
hardware, or network setup. While it would be impossible to cover
every problem in this article, there's a very good chance that
someone else has had the same problem that you're facing.
Searching Google for possible solutions is often the fastest way to
get your computer working again.
 PERFORM A GOOGLE
SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM
YOU'RE EXPERIENCING. 
Be specific with your search. Include the program's name and your
operating system. Search for the exact error message along with
any error codes. Focus on keywords that describe your problem.
Try to narrow it down to your situation as much as possible.
 PERFORM A GOOGLE
SEARCH FOR THE PROBLEM
YOU'RE EXPERIENCING. 

Focus on tech forums when browsing through the search results.

You will often find the most in-depth guides and most useful
suggestions from these sites.
 SPEEDING UP
SLOW COMPUTER
 AVOID DOWNLOADING ANY
PROGRAMS THAT CLAIM TO
SPEED UP YOUR COMPUTER. 
These are nearly all scams or vehicles for adware. You can
boost your computer's speed on your own without the help
of these programs.
 CLOSE ANY PROGRAMS
THAT YOU AREN'T USING. 
• The more programs you have running on your computer
at once, the slower it will run. Your operating system will
often load several programs in the background when it
starts as well.In Windows, a lot of the programs running in
the background will have icons in your System Tray. Right-
click on these icons to close the programs.
• Make sure you save any work before closing a program.
 FREE UP SOME HARD DRIVE
SPACE.
• Windows - Press Alt+F4 to force the active program to
close. If Alt+F4 isn't working, press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc to
open a list of all the running programs. Select the program
you want to force to close and click End task.
HOW TO REMOVE
A VIRUS
 RUN VIRUS AND MALWARE
SCANS.
• A computer that was running fine and then suddenly
becomes slow may be infected with a virus. This is a
common symptom of a virus infection, but is not always
the cause. Regular antivirus scans will help protect your
system from viruses. Viruses not only affect your
computer's performance, but also but your personal data
at risk.
TROUBLESHOOTIN
G NETWORK
PROBLEMS
 RESTART YOUR COMPUTER. 

• Like with many computer problems, restarting your

computer may help fix the networking issues you are
having. Make sure to save any open files before restarting.
 RESET YOUR NETWORK
HARDWARE.
• Find your modem and router (if you have one) and
remove the power cables from the back of each.
• Wait at least thirty seconds and then plug the power cable
for the modem back in.
• Wait until the modem has finished powering on and
connecting. This could take a minute or more.
• Plug the power cable back in for the router once the
modem has connected. You should be able to connect to
the network again after the router powers on.
TESTING AND
REPLACING
HARDWARE
 RUN ERROR CHECKS ON
YOUR HARD DRIVE.

• Errors on your hard drive can cause your computer to

slow down, corrupt files, or prevent you from loading
programs or the operating system. Windows and Mac
have tools that can find and correct some errors. If your
hard drive is failing you'll need to replace it.
 TEST YOUR COMPUTER'S
RAM (MEMORY) FOR
ERRORS.
• If your computer isn't booting properly or crashes a lot,
there could be a problem with one or more of your
memory modules. These can't be repaired if there's a
problem with them. Luckily memory is one of the cheaper
computer components and is fairly easy to replace.
 COMMON
COMPUTER ISSUES
 1. THE COMPUTER WON’T
START
• A computer that suddenly shuts off or has difficulty
starting up could have a failing power supply. Check that
the computer is plugged into the power point properly
and, if that doesn’t work, test the power point with
another working device to confirm whether or not there
is adequate power.
 1. THE COMPUTER WON’T
START
• Check that all the cables are securely plugged into the
back of the machine and the monitor.
• Check that the power cables are plugged into a power
socket and the socket has been turned on.
• Try using a different power socket or, if you are using a
power extension strip, plug the power cable directly into a
power socket in the wall.
• Replace the power cable with one that you know works.
 1. THE COMPUTER WON’T
START
• Check if there are any lights on at the front of the
machine:
• If there are lights on the machine but not the monitor,
then it's probably a monitor issue.
• If there are lights on the monitor but not the machine,
then it's probably a machine issue.
• If there are no lights on anything, then it may be possible
there is a local power cut.
 2. THE SCREEN IS BLANK
• If the computer is on but the screen is blank, there may
be an issue with the connection between the computer
and the screen. First, check to see if the monitor is
plugged into a power point and that the connection
between the monitor and computer hard drive is secure.
If the problem is on a laptop, then you may need to get a
professional to fix it as some of the internal wires may be
worn.
 3. ABNORMALLY
FUNCTIONING OPERATING
SYSTEM OR SOFTWARE
• If the operating system or other software is either
unresponsive or is acting up, then try restarting your
computer and run a virus scan. To avoid having this
happen, install reliable anti-virus software.
 4. NO AUDIO OR SOUND

• 1] Check your Driver

• Normally you would open Control Panel > Sound > Under
Playback and Recording tabs, Select and Set Defaults.
Additionally or alternatively, you may also have to try this:
Click Start > Type Device Manager in Start Menu Search
Bar > Hit Enter.
 4. NO AUDIO OR SOUND
• The Device Manager will open. Expand Sound, Video and
Game Controllers. Locate your audio device. Double-click
on it to open its Properties box. See whether the driver is
installed and the device working properly.
• In the Driver tab, click on Update Driver. Click OK. Else you
may have to uninstall the Driver (but DONT delete it) and
then in the Device Manager > Action > Scan for hardware
changes. This will reinstall the driver.
 4. NO AUDIO OR SOUND
• 2] Check your sound card
• Ensure that your Windows PC has a sound card or sound
processor, and it’s working properly. To check this, select
the ‘Search’ option from the charms-bar, type – Device
Manager’ and click ‘Settings’. Open Device Manager,
double-click Sound, video and game controllers to expand
that category. If a sound card is listed, you have one
installed. Laptops and tablets do not usually have sound
cards. Instead, they have integrated sound processors,
which appear in the same category in Device Manager.
 4. NO AUDIO OR SOUND

• See if it is working properly. If Device Status shows that

the device is working correctly, the problem showing up is
due to sound settings, the speakers, or the cables.
 4. NO AUDIO OR SOUND
• 3] Set correct audio device as default
• Type ‘Sound’ in search and select ‘Settings’. Choose
‘Sound’. Under the Playback tab section, you will find
multiple audio devices; appearing as speaker, followed by
the name of the device. You will also observe that the
default device shows a green a check beside it, labeled as
Default if you have multiple devices.
 4. NO AUDIO OR SOUND

• If the wrong audio device is listed as the default audio

device, simply choose the correct device and click ‘Set
Default’ button. Restart your PC!
 5. THE SCREEN IS FROZEN
• When you computer freezes, you may have no other
option than to reboot and risk losing any unsaved work.
Freezes can be a sign of insufficient ram, registry
conflicts, corrupt or missing files, or spyware. Press and
hold the power button until the computer turns off, then
restart it and get to work cleaning up the system so that it
doesn’t freeze again.
 6. COMPUTER IS SLOW

• If your computer is slower than normal, you can often fix

the problem simply by cleaning the hard disk of unwanted
files. You can also install a firewall, anti-
virus and schedule regular registry scans. External hard
drives are great storage solutions for overtaxed CPU’s, and
will help your computer run faster.
 7.  STRANGE NOISES

• A lot of noise coming from your computer is generally a

sign of either hardware malfunction or a noisy fan. Hard
drives often make noise just before they fail, so you may
want to back up information just in case, and fans are very
easy to replace.
 8. SLOW INTERNET

• To improve your Internet browser performance, you need

to clear cookies and Internet temporary files frequently. In
the Windows search bar, type ‘%temp%’ and hit enter to
open the temporary files folder.
 9. OVERHEATING

• If a computer case lacks a sufficient cooling system, then

the computer’s components may start to generate excess
heat during operation. To avoid your computer burning
itself out, turn it off and let it rest if it’s getting hot.
Additionally, you can check the fan to make sure it’s
working properly.
 10. DROPPED INTERNET
CONNECTIONS

• Dropped Internet connections can be very frustrating.

Often the problem is simple and may be caused by a bad
cable or phone line, which is easy to fix. More serious
problems include viruses, a bad network card or modem,
or a problem with the driver.