If there was a glimmer of possibility that you might be returning to some semblance of a normal office life, that light is probably set on the dimmest setting for now with the renewed lockdown and a resurgence in Covid outbreaks. This means your training as an technology Jedi has only begun, young padawan. Never fear (it leads to anger, after all…) we have more tips to help you traverse the dark side of technology trouble.
“When do I get to hit it with a lightsaber?”
Trick #4: Reboot (The Sequel!). You’ve rebooted your computer, but the internet is still not working. Time to move upstream on your network river to figure out if there is an obstruction blocking the sweet flow of data. If you are using WiFi and are fortunate to have a dedicated access point or mesh system, try rebooting those devices first, but only if you’ve verified that it’s not working for anyone else in the house. If that doesn’t work, try rebooting your internet router. If there isn’t a power button, just pull the power plug from the device, but DON’T try the reset button unless instructed by a professional or you know what you are doing. Let it sit for at least 30 seconds to think about what it’s done, and then plug the power back in. If the internet does not come back – do not panic! Call your ISP to make sure they’ve tried turning their stuff off and back on again as well.
Trick #5: Try a different Browser. If you are having trouble with a website, whether it be one you use regularly, or something that you are visiting for the very first time, try accessing the same site from a different browser. If you didn’t know there was more than one, or that you could use more than one, let me blow your mind: You can use as many different browsers as you want, and there are more than two! To be fair, both Apple and Microsoft are pretty insistent on people using their specific browsers (Safari and Edge, respectively) but there are quite a few alternatives that are readily and freely available. Google’s Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are the two most popular “non-default” browsers, and may help you seal the deal on your next web transaction.
Trick #6: Get close or get wired. If you are working from home you are probably on WiFi, and you’ve probably already experienced problems with network speed or connectivity that you’ve rarely experienced in the office. Getting internet from point A to B is best done by wire, and even enterprise-grade WiFi is a poor second to Ethernet. Think of it as the equivalent of trying to deliver water from point A to B. Wired Ethernet is a hose – just about all the water is going to get from A to B without much fuss – whereas WiFi is using your garden sprayer to shoot the water from A to B. Yeah, the water is going to get there, but a lot of it is going get everywhere, and point B isn’t getting wet nearly as fast as the hose. So the next time you are having trouble filling a big bucket of internet data, either get a hose (get wired!) or get closer to the bucket with your sprayer (WiFi). It doesn’t have to be permanent, use an Ethernet cable or get closer to the router to rule out WiFi as the source of the problem. Oh, and sometimes, you need a new sprayer, especially if getting close doesn’t seem to be doing the job. And if the hose (Ethernet wire) doesn’t help, maybe it’s time to call an actual internet plumber (C2 Technology).
You did try turning it off and back on, right?
Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay
