The Ultimate Guide to DIY IT Troubleshooting

Help end users help themselves with this handy tool that walks them through basic troubleshooting steps before calling in your team to save the day.

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Is your mouse frozen? Have you been disconnected from the WiFi? Have you encountered the spinning wheel of death? Don't fill out that IT ticket just yet. We have a few troubleshooting tips you can use to get your tech back in working order without having to call in the pros.

Check Power and Connections: Are all your devices plugged in and powered on? Are your batteries good and are your cables securely connected?

Save Your Work: Before attempting anything else, make sure your work is saved. If you're not sure, but you can't lose the work, stop where you are and call IT.

Restart Programs: Close the program or restart. If the program is stubborn, you can use the Force Quit function (for Macs) in the apple menu at the top left of the desktop. If you use a PC, try Ctrl+Alt+Del, press those keys simultaneously, open the task manager and select the program you want to restart. If you still can't restart, try closing all other open programs before you attempt a restart.

Restart Whole Machine: In Windows 8 swipe from the right edge, select Settings select Power, and Restart. In Windows 7: Open the start menu then select Restart or Shutdown.

So You Need to Call IT: Be sure to include vital information on the ticket, like your name and type of device, which program is causing you trouble and what it's struggling to do, what actions cause the problem, as well as what you tried to do to fix it.