I wanted to say when you are having a problem with your computer, do you turn it off and turn it back on? they say it is bad to do this, because you win lose all information, but I half to do this sometimes, it seems to help. I know that when I have a problem with My computer, and it starts acting crazy I scan it or turn it off and then turn it back on. What do you do, I am no expert but It seems to help. I have learned alot of these abuot my computer, just by trying to figure out things for my self, as a matter of fact I taught my self how to use one. Ok, I just wanted to know what you guys half to say? thanks Marcie.
[question posted by marciascott]
responses and comments:
I will have to sometimes restart my computer too. I also unplug my computer when we have lightning, I don't want any power surges. I have my computer plugged into the power strips, but I still like to be safe than sorry. [Polly1]
Everyone should do this. because It might not work anymore if you don't do this. I thought about the other day wheb it was Thundering and lighting. I do have a surge box, you know what I am saying, thanks for reponding. [marciascott]
I don't seem to have many problems now that I have DSL. Also my Vista seems to be in charge and does on occasion shut down with the proper warning and then sign me back on to IE7. Again security is good now with my Dell, Avast and Vista working. Good luck in all your computing. [Willowlady]
That is really nice that you got a new Computer I am going to get one one of these days. [marciascott]
Nope. If you mean do I switch my computer off without first doing a proper shutdown, I don't. And you are right. It is not too good for the system. One day you might accumulate too many corrupted files and your system will crash even badly. But sometimes, you don't have a choice... like there is a power failure for instance... so you are left with an illegal shutdown. :P But if you are not working on something that needs to be safe, just do what you did. But it shouldn't happen too often.. if ever. Yes, it shouldn't even happen. Make sure there are no virus or spyware. Do a scan at housecall.trendmicro.com perhaps. [lordwarwizard]
You should shut down your computer by clicking on the start button, and then click to shut down. Then restart it.. it will reboot the computer without losing any data. [charlene2350]
Ok, charlene that is a good answer, How have you been also? good I hope. [marciascott]
Absolutely I turn it off, sometimes it just freezes up and you are unable to do anything and you need to reboot it and get it back to going right. There is nothing wrong with rebooting, most times tech guys will suggest it since something is causing problems to freeze the computer up. Most times if I have to reboot due to constant problems I had on the computer I will do a diagnostic on the hard drive to make sure everything is okay. You do this by when your computer starts up you hit the F12 key repeatedly until you get the screen to diagnose it. Most times when I do this the system will correct itself. [texasclassygal]
Thanks teaxasclassygal for all that information> my computer too freezes and i have had to restart it. But i didn't knew about doing a diagnostic on the hard drive to make sure everything is okay. In future i will do this as you say by my computer starts up you hit the F12 key repeatdely hopefully system will correct itself. [banta78]
When nothing seems to work, I do turn it off and back on, and it does solve the problem. I haven't had any trouble with the memory, though. [mimatexas]
I turn off my computer when I am having problems and I restart it. It always helps my computer most of the time when I restart it also. I have never lost any information by doing so, but they say to tait a few minutes before restarting your computer so it has time to reset. [stephcjh]
Thanks alot. I appreciate that. Birthdays are just another day any more LOL. Mine always gets ruined some way or somehow. I never look forward to any of them any more, but I know they just have to come around every year. [stephcjh]
When I have a problem with my computer, I always do one thing. I call for my 16 year old daughter and she comes in and says, what have you done to your computer now? I say, I don't know, just fix it, and she does. So I guess my answer is I don't do a thing when my computer doesn't work, except call for my daughter. [sodapop]
That is good your daughter is very smart, most kids now a days knows how to work or fix it. My Grandson have taught me a few thigs. he is good working on computer too. I just gave him a computer stand today, because someone gave him a computer and scanner and printer. [marciascott]
The first step is to save your information often. That way, if your computer does tie up, you won't lose very much. Often times, if you just close a certain program and restart it, that will help. On a windows system, you can press [Ctrl] [Alt] [Delete] which will bring up the program manager and allow you to close the program that is not responding. If nothing will respond, then your only alternative will be to restart you computer. If you can use the system to tell you computer to restart itself, that is better than hitting the off button and then turning it on again. If all else fails, however, that is all you can do. But that shouldn't be happening very often in a computer that is working right. [DanaMark]
Hi, Mark, I do this all the time. (Ctrl)(Alt)(Delete) [marciascott]
Well when I have problems like my computer slowing down and becoming unresponsive, I pull the plug out of the computer and do a cold boot, that means a restart of the computer, because restarting it digitally with a warm boot would take a long time. Lucky for me my eMachines computer has the System Restore function to keep the slowdowns at bay. But other than that, I turn it off when any problems arise. [DuoMaxwell]
Yes there have been a few ttimes that I had to do this and it seemed to work very well when nothing else would.. [blkcat1]
Yes that is all you can do sometimes. have a good one! [marciascott]
It could cause problems, and you will for sure loose data in the documents your working with, but more often that not, you won't really have problems by turning it off if you really have to. Luckily, Microsoft Office has built in things that automatically save documents so if you have to restart your computer the losses are minimal. [mrrtomatoe]
I use Windows XP in my pc and if my computer have a problem, I usually search for the particular program that causes that problem and I terminate that program. I'm doing this by pressing simultaneously the CTRL, ALT, and DEL and look for that program that is not responding and terminate it. [Megzzz]
i do that as a last resort. when i am really frustrated with the problem with my computer, then i just press restart. Such as when my pc lags, and i can't do anything else but restart it. [d00d00]
i switch it off for a few minutes. Once i switch it back on if its still playing up, i run a few scans on it and a cookie cleaner - and poosibly defargmant too! As a do alot of PTC and cahback site, sometimes my computer freezes and starts to go really slow! [loopylou2406]
Sometimes I used reset bottom to restart my computer. If your computer running crazy try to reformat it. [maybey]
Well i do it sometimes when its really not working not even the mouse...i am not an engineer to see what is wrong.... [paradise12]
To shutdown computer properly is by clicking the start menu button and choose shutdown or restart option if you want to reboot. In some case where computers which have bad sectors or harddisk problem freezes in the middle of saving files or loading some file, waiting to normalize the computer function is impossible. In this case, i usually shutdown my pc and wait up to 5 minutes before reboot. I think this method is somehow safe, as computer components has enough time to assess its own datas inside. [a_ce_e]
I usually leave my computer on a lot, but if it starts to slow down or not acting right, I usually turn it off for the night and by morning it seems to be better. It's not quite as slow. I do the scan stuff too before I go to bed. I do a virus scan everyday before I go to bed and a defrag every week. It makes things a lot smoother :) [djbizmonkey34]
I have had to do this but nnnnnnnot since I've had the dsl the last year or so. Sometimes if it freezes what else can you do, the alt,del button they say to hold down would never work. If you have alot of problems try system restore that worked for me last. [stormygrl]
i always run the computer cleaner program,my antispyware program, to prevent future problem to my computer..after days browsing i always run the computer cleaner program,to delete cookies and to refresh also memory of my computer.proper shutdown, and proper exit of programs,if cant be close,il use task manager to close it..for me it works and it helps protect my pc from file corruption. [ebenjie]
i turn my computer off when im having troubles with it, as i have dial up and only one phone it tends to freeze or do weird things. i know sometimes you lose information but i prefer to lose it then to have an annoying computer [meljessxena]
you don't really have to turn it off... just a restart it's enough... and it's true that it's not a good thing to turn your computer off, but not because you will lose all information... it's just something about the components possible damage... and some time information can bee lost but is rare... actually when you close you computer the memory is cleaned and that's why it works better when you start it again:) [Dan_ul]
yes i do turrn off my computer when i had any problem in my computer.but i often try to investicate what hppend to the the pc.but if i dint got the problem i go to pc experts/....... [knightking_world]
When my computer messes around, I switch it off,turn off the power,pull out the plug,plug it in again turn the power on again,switch the computer on, and voila! she is back in beeze neece.I am a million miles away from being a computer wizard, I am,just like you, a self taught computer user.Oh and by the way, I myself have not lost any information by doing this.I must admit though, that it might not be quite the right thing to do,so you should also listen to others who may have a better solution.But remember that at the end of the day, it is only a machine after all.You'll live ! Cheers. [JUNGLE]
Seem like that is the only way I get any results. [marciascott]
turning off your computer is not a solution ... see what is problem ...find it out ..solve it ... If restart is required , then do it ..... solve problems , dont panic :) [chotaneo]
Hi, marciascott! I don't shut down my computer just like that. Normally I will follow the proper procedure to shut it down. Once in a blue moon, if I do not have a choice, I will do like you but if I can, I will try to avoid that. If I ever facing any problem with the computer, I will just ask my husband to take care of it. He is a programmer and I think he should know better than me :) I am very lucky that I seldom have problem with my computer. I make sure everything is updated be it the security system, antivirus software and so on. You can download free software like AVG AntiVirus, Ad Aware SE Personal and many more from download.com Hope this will help you a bit. Good luck! [gr8life]
One of the ways I use to troubleshoot my computer is to turn it oof. But this is after I tried all other methods and they fail. I then turn off the computer, usually I have to force it off. Then restart and if I am very lucky the problem gets resolved by that action. But sometimes it doesn't get resolved and I have to use other means to further troubleshoot and fix it. [2wicelot]
That is also a good idea. [2wicelot]
Shutting your computer down when that kind of stuff happens is good. It obviously means there is a problem with your computer and when it shuts down it gives windows a chance to like refresh itself kind of, and also update. Thats why it is good to not leave your computer on so long, I always shut it off at night so that it won't act all crazy the next day. It happens to me too, so yeah its good to shut it down sometimes. [x3temptationx]
when i turn my laptop off i get a grey box pop up and says `end program csystem tray dummy window.` and in the box says` ending program please wait` then has a timer . and a box,end now .also says in box that if you choose to end the program immedatly you will lose any unsaved data. if you let the timer run out you get a quote saying to return to windows and check the status of the program, click cancel, with 2 boxes ,end now or cancel. it closes down but shouldnt have to do this. i`m running windows xp with s`pack 2... can you advise:x [john_striker2579]
When I have problems with my pc I sometimes reboot it by pressing the button on the chassis of my machine. Fortunately I started using Linux last year, so I have a lot less problems and I don't need to "brutally" shutdown of reboot my pc because it doesn't respond. My suggestion is to save your data quite often. [andben]
I always do that.I didn't know it was bad for the computer.I always restart it when it acts up.Right now I'm on a public computer.My computer crashed.I need to get an updated one. [chrissysweet]
I meed to get a updated one too. I have had this computer sunce, 1998, Wimdows 98. yhank for responding. [marciascott]
When my computer is experiencing some problems, I don't hit the restart button immediately. Some unsaved files and documents might be lost. I wait for a few minutes first. If my computer still does not go back to normal then that's the time I would hit the restart button. [argie713]
Ok, Maybe I should do this. thanks. [marciascott]
sometimes there is no choice but to shut it down instantly by turning off the power and rebooting. especially if the screen is frozen, there is not much choice other than to flick the switch. [Modestah]
Yes sometimes that is all you can do, especially if it is old. mind is Windows 98. [marciascott]
When I having problems with my computer. The first thing I do is run a spyware check. I kind a computer geek so when ever a problem arises, I have a whole entire system to work throught before I solve the problem, but also doing regular maintanence like, spyware & anti-virus sessions, disk defgramentation, deleting old files and temp files, etc. You can get your computer to do all this on auto-pilot, just visit windows help if you are unfamiliar. Doing regular maintanence can certainly prevent any computer problems from happening. [tyler7h]
I turn my computer off when I am having problems that I can not solve. I also do a defragmentation of my hard drive. [gberlin]
Sometimes I even turn off the Moderm you know that little box. The phone company told me to do that, hasve a good day! [marciascott]
First thing I do when having a problem I run lava soft it is a free download. Then after that I clear my cache out then I run system tools and do a disk clean up then run disk defrag. Then I run spybot search and destroy also a free download and then if all else fails I turn my computer off and back on. Works for me.I too taught myself how to use a computer been using one for quite sometime now. You can also look up things on the net on how to fix certian things just type your question in the address bar and up will come a lot of web pages to look on. Good luck and thanks. [bwrattybaby]
It sounds to me like you have either a virus or some spy-ware, ad-ware, or mal-ware giving you grief. That is very common in a Windows computer. There are a couple of things you can do to correct this before you spend serious money by taking your computer into the shop. If you have a legal copy of Windows in your machine, you can download the free Windows Defender. Windows Defender is very good at rounding up spy-ware, ad-ware, and mal-ware. As this is from Microsoft, getting a bad bit of software from it is as likely as getting hit by lightning. The drawback to this device is it 'phones home'. If your copy of Windows is not legit, from a friend or some other shady source, grab a copy of Ad Aware, which is a very good program that doesn't ask questions or 'call home' like Microsoft's products always do. Another piece of software you should have is an anti-virus. Avast is an excellent choice. The home version is free, it doesn't 'phone home' or send personal info about you, you have to hit a button for updates of anti-virus definitions yourself. It's the anti-virus protecting my machine. [CraftyCorner]
Well i do it sometimes if i have tried everything to make it work...Mostly i restart it....Or sometimes switch off for sometime and then try later... [paradise12]
Yeah when my computer freezes or shows an error or sytem shows some fault, i do shut it down as pressing ctrl+del+alt keys at once don't seem to work as the system is busy or is not responding. So i just restart it and often it seems to work fine. Though i don't know much about why system suddenly freezes or if rebotting has to be done. Cheers:) [banta78]
I do that sometimes too. have a wonderful week! [marciascott]
Most of the time when I face some problem with my System, just a simple Log-off and Log on will solve my problem. But at some more critical cases, I may need to restart my System itself. Since I have some knowledge on the Computer, I will try to fix the problem by myself, before restarting my computer. One of the step I do is to, open the Task manager and manually kill the Process I suspect. This too has helped me out many of the times. Sometimes, I do run a quick scan of my computer with some anti-spyware softwares. The step I do depends on what problem Im facing with the computer currently. [senthil2k]
I do that a lot too. when all else fails. have a nice Holiday. and be safe. [marciascott]