If you’ve been working with a computer, or any piece of tech, for more than about five minutes you will be familiar with this turn of phrase:

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

There is a good reason why this is the first port of call when dealing with a problematic machine. However, this is not the fix you’ll need in the event you have a more challenging issue.

Having discussed before why switching it off and on again does work – today we are talking about what you can do if that doesn’t work for you.

Not updating the software on your machine is a common challenge that can make it fall down. Many of us will be guilty of ignoring the little pop up in the bottom corner of the screen which tells us that updates are ready to install. That is, we’ll ignore it until those updates decide to install themselves automatically and then you end up with a bit of a crash.

Obviously, the easiest way to deal with this challenge is to update your software before it becomes a problem – remember, this is also an effective way to ensure that you are less likely to face problems with cyber attacks and the like. However, in the event that you have an IT problem which switching it off and on again doesn’t help – check to ensure you’re using the most up to date software.

Running a virus scan on your device should probably go hand in hand with updating software as a check you can undertake before calling in IT.

Naturally, there are many reasons why IT problems can occur, and the vast majority of them aren’t related to viruses. However, if you are facing an IT issue you don’t know the answer to – make sure you run a virus scan.

In the event that you do have a virus on your machine, this will help you to identify the issue – and will help to isolate a virus that could spread to other machines in your organisation.

This final tip is more a preemptive tactic to reduce the likelihood of an IT issue for your machine. Many of us use multiple apps to get our work done day to day, and often the needs of work will change as things move along.

It’s well worth reviewing the apps on your machine on a regular basis and clean out some of the less used or redundant applications.

You’ll have seen throughout this blog that whilst the technique of switching things off and on again is a good tried and tested tactic as the first port of call – this isn’t the only strategy you should employ (it’s just the best thing to do before calling IT).

One thing that you can do to ensure you’re best placed in the event that the above doesn’t work out is to have a good, on-call IT team who can help you out in a fix.

This is where Webby Tech come in. We offer a full range of outsourced IT services for small and growing businesses. Ready to have a no obligations discussion on how we can support you? Contact us today.