This is why many of our clients employ us – to deal with their staff when they have this complaint!  Our first strategy is to log in remotely and see if we can fix the problem via the internet – and it’s still surprising how few people have tried shutting down their computer and restarting it.

Why do IT support people ask you to do this?

If your computer has developed a problem, restarting it resets everything and, often, that’s enough to fix minor problems.

Sometimes your IT support may also ask you to turn off your router (or modem) and restart that too.  The same applies, if the signal isn’t operating as it should a restart restores all the settings and can iron out minor glitches that have developed.

At the other end of the spectrum we have had to visit clients who know this and do it regularly – sometimes daily – as it’s the only way to keep their computer working properly.

If you need to keep shutting down your equipment to get it to work, there’s something more deep-seated that needs looking at.  If your computer has to slow down to stabilise the connection, then shutting it down will only ever be a temporary fix.  There may be an error that keeps getting worse as long as the equipment is on and, therefore, needs attention.

So, the moral of this tale is – if your computer is misbehaving, the first thing to try is to shut it down and restart it and see if that clears the problem.  If you find it keep reoccurring and you’re having to do restarts regularly – call your IT support team to investigate.