Today, I was reminded of the importance of what I call “Rule #1” when it comes to computers.  If you’ve read our vacation guide (Click the button below to download it if you don’t have it already.), you know that I always advocate rebooting (restarting) a computer when things aren’t going well.

Someone came into Remote Technical Support today because their printer wasn’t working correctly on their wireless network.  I had them hook the printer up to their computer with a USB cord and then I proceeded to convert the printer from USB to wireless.  The software ran smoothly and at the end, the wizard told me the printer was installed and all was well.  Except, under Devices and Printers, the printer was still listed as offline.  So, I started over and ran the software wizard again.  Same result – software said all was well but the printer was still offline. 

As I sat at my computer, staring at my customer’s computer, I thought to myself, “What the heck, let’s reboot and see what happens!”  I did just that.  Sure enough, the computer came back after restarting and the printer was online, the test page printed and everyone was a happy camper again.

Since I temporarily forgot Rule #1 myself, I thought it’s be a good time to remind you – when things are “off,” restart the computer!!