troubleshooting Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Computer acting strange? Try this first.

Posted on May 18, 2023

Have you ever been using your computer and had it start acting strange for no apparent reason?

I’m sure you probably have because it happens all the time.

For example, just the other day my Internet connection shut down and it simply refused to re-establish a connection.

A couple of days later the speakers just stopped working right in the middle of a video I was watching, and they refused to start working again even after I loaded a different video.

When those things happened I didn’t immediately jump into troubleshooting mode and start checking drivers or verifying system settings. I did this instead… [Read more…]

Try this first if a newly-installed program doesn’t work as expected

Posted on May 24, 2022

The Internet has forever changed the way we acquire new software to run on our computers and mobile devices.

Gone are the days when we had to visit a retail store and buy a disk.

Now all we have to do is perform a quick Google search to find what we’re looking for and then click “Download” and install it.

But even though it’s easier than ever to find and download useful new software, things still go wrong during the installation process on occasion.

[Read more…]

How to use the ‘Troubleshoot’ tool to fix issues with Windows 10

Posted on August 14, 2021

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As you probably know, Windows 10 is a large and very complicated operating system with tons of options and settings available for you to tweak to your liking.

Windows also has to interact with hardware devices and all types of third party software to enable your computer to do everything you need for it to do.

Unfortunately, all of these complex interactions pretty much ensure that things can (and will) go wrong on occasion.

Many issues are caused by third party apps, drivers and installed software, but plenty of others are caused when something goes haywire with Windows itself.

Luckily, Windows 10 includes a handy tool called “Troubleshoot” that can (possibly) diagnose and (possibly) fix some of the problems and glitches that arise with your PC.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t my HP laptop turn on?

Posted on February 5, 2013

Question from Sean W.: I have an HP laptop running Windows Vista. Now all of a sudden it won’t turn on. When I press the power button some of the LEDs light up then go right back out and the system is dead. Do you think my computer is fried? Or maybe the power adaptor?

Rick’s answer: Sean, I don’t think anything is “fried”. I believe a hard reset to the machine will probably get you back up and running. Try this: [Read more…]