Tips + Tutorials

10 Easy Tech Fixes Before You Panic

Before you assume your laptop is dying, your Wi-Fi is cursed, or your printer has decided it no longer believes in cooperation, try these first.

Restart the device

Yes, really. It is the most stereotypical tech advice in existence, but that is because it works an embarrassing amount of the time. Restarting clears temporary glitches, resets stuck processes, and gives the device a clean start.

Quick Fix: Try this when an app is frozen, the computer is acting slow, something suddenly stopped working, or everything just feels weird.

Check your Wi-Fi and Airplane Mode

If the internet suddenly disappears, make sure the problem is actually the internet. Check that Wi-Fi is turned on, Airplane Mode is off, and you are connected to the network you think you are connected to.

Quick Fix: Open another website or app. If nothing loads, the problem is probably the connection rather than the original app.

Close the app completely and reopen it

If one app is misbehaving but everything else works, start there. Close the app completely, wait a few seconds, then reopen it.

Quick Fix: If that does not work, restart the device before doing anything more complicated.

Check the cables and connections

Before you assume your monitor, printer, charger, or accessory has entered its villain era, check the physical connections. Make sure cables are fully plugged in on both ends.

Quick Fix: Unplug the cable and reconnect it. For USB devices, try another port.

Try a different browser

Sometimes the website is fine. Your browser is just being difficult. If a website is not loading correctly in Chrome, try Edge, Safari, Firefox, or another browser you already have installed.

Quick Fix: If it works in another browser, the issue is probably with your original browser rather than the website.

Forget and reconnect to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth

If your device says it is connected but clearly is not cooperating, remove the connection and start fresh. Forget the network or Bluetooth device, then connect again.

Quick Fix: Great for headphones that will not connect, Wi-Fi that says connected but will not load, or devices that keep pairing to the wrong thing.

Check for updates

Updates are annoying until the problem you are having is the exact thing the update was supposed to fix. Check your operating system, apps, browser, and device firmware when applicable.

Quick Fix: Install available updates, then restart afterward.

Clear the browser cache

Your browser stores temporary files to help websites load faster. Sometimes those files get outdated or corrupted and cause strange behavior.

Quick Fix: Try this when a website looks wrong, a login page loops, buttons do not work, or you are still seeing an old version of a page.

Test the problem on another device

This is one of the fastest ways to figure out where the problem actually lives. Try the same website, printer, Bluetooth device, or service somewhere else.

Quick Fix: If the problem happens everywhere, the issue may be the service or device itself. If it only happens on one device, you have narrowed it down.

Take a screenshot before you click the error away

If an error message appears, grab a screenshot before closing it. Also jot down what you were doing right before the problem happened.

Quick Fix: A screenshot of the exact message is much more useful than trying to remember that something popped up and disappeared.

Still not working?

At this point, you have already tried the first things most tech support people are going to ask about — and you have much better information about what is actually failing.