‘My computer is slow’: 5 quick tips for troubleshooting friends and family over the holidays

The vacations are an excellent cause to interrupt bread and spend high quality time with household and pals. When you’ve come to be often called the techie within the group, although, the vacations are additionally a time when folks could come to you for recommendation.

Nearly each computer-literate particular person has to brace himself or herself for the query: “Hey, are you able to check out my laptop?”

SEE: 10 mistakes to avoid when troubleshooting IT problems

The problem is not that you do not need to assist your family members, it is simply that the problems are sometimes extra advanced than they appear. To assist get your troubleshooting began off on the suitable foot, right here 5 fast ideas that you need to use as a launching level for determining what’s improper.

1. Clear the cache and cookies

These days, most computing is completed on the web. So, when folks complain about their laptop being sluggish, what they actually imply is that their favourite webpage is not loading rapidly sufficient, or they can’t entry their electronic mail.

A straightforward first step to treatment that is to clear the cache and cookies. As a reminder, the cache is principally short-term storage for recordsdata that relate to loading a given web site, and cookies are bits of details about the way you work together with particular web sites.

The method for clearing the cache and cookies will likely be completely different for every browser, but it surely typically is nested underneath “settings,” “preferences,” or “historical past.” Simply keep in mind to verify if the consumer has any saved passwords earlier than clearing the cookies, as it should typically clear these out.

2. Take away adware and malware

Does your uncle incessantly click on on pop-ups and pretend emails telling him that he received 1,000,000 {dollars}? If that’s the case, he seemingly has some type of malware or adware that has effects on his laptop’s efficiency. There are a plethora of instruments obtainable that can assist you take away malware, a lot of which supply a free model. Nonetheless, a pleasant reward is perhaps to buy a premium product and set it up on their laptop for them.

Listed below are some extra articles that would assist you take away malware and adware:

3. Search for the RAM hogs

If the velocity points are native, there may very well be purposes and packages which might be utilizing an excessive amount of reminiscence. Examine your Exercise Monitor for Mac, or Job Supervisor for Home windows to see how a lot reminiscence every program is utilizing.

One of many key methods to verify these RAM hogs aren’t inflicting common issues in your consumer is to verify they don’t seem to be booting at the beginning up. Each Home windows (Startup) and Macs (Startup Gadgets) have a folder that features the purposes that may launch at startup, and subsequently will run within the background. Make it possible for there aren’t any pointless packages on this folder.

4. Uninstall packages and apps

As many in IT know, merely deleting an software would not take away it out of your gadget. As an alternative, you may must manually uninstall purposes to do away with them for good. In Home windows, this may be completed from the Begin button underneath the Management Panel, clicking on a program and choosing uninstall. On a Mac, nonetheless, you may want a third-party software (ironic, is not it), like AppCleaner.

When you’re at it, make certain to empty the recycle bin and do away with any recordsdata that the customers would not use each day. Whereas it could take a very long time to undergo batches of picture or video, it could prevent a headache sooner or later.

5. DEFCON 5: Reinstall the OS

If all else fails, it could be time to reinstall the OS. It is a severe step, but it surely typically results in a significantly better consumer expertise and might handle a mess of issues without delay. Simply be sure you again up all the pieces the consumer wants in a pair completely different locations earlier than pursuing this selection.

These articles could present some extra help in reinstalling the OS:

What are your ideas?

Do you might have every other ideas that techies ought to know earlier than helping their family and friends? Any household tech help horror tales? Share them each within the feedback beneath.

Tech Information You Can Use Publication

We ship the highest enterprise tech information tales in regards to the firms, the folks, and the merchandise revolutionizing the planet.
Delivered Every day

Join at present

Additionally see