Three and a half reasons computers crash
Here is a little list of why your computer may crash, this it is not a definitive list but is certainly the most common reasons in our experience at www.telephone-support.net that our users call us about and with the help of remote support service we can usually provide a fix.
1. VirusesOften the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk.
A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.If you don’t have anti-virus software currently try installing “Microsoft Security Essentials” , its free, never expires and will give you good protection. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/products/security-essentials
2. Hardware FailuresUnfortunately electronic equipment breaks down, this is a fact of life we cannot escape, whether it is through age, low quality or outside influences like power surges or missuse it will more than likely affect us all eventually at some time of your computing life.Some failures can be fixed by replacing the offending part like a mouse or keyboard, some failures are catastrophic like you hard drive or CPU. Either way the range of fixes is vast, and diagnosing these failures can take a practiced eye. It is probably a good idea to take your computer to your local friendly repair shop, and have them cast a eye over the system, make sure they provide a free quote for the repair before commissioning any new parts. As we live in age of disposable computers it is quite often cheaper to buy a whole new computer from your local supermarket next time you are buying you weekly food shop.
3. SoftwareOur number 3 spot of computer crashing goes to badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. However it is not always that simple, it may not be the fault of the current software you are trying to install, but a previous piece of software installed months before. Or even, how about a missing piece of software that needs to be installed before the current piece of software……Phew !!!!!!!
The age old issue of the software developer blames the hardware manufacturer and vice versa is a standing joke in the computing world, personally I never get involved in that argument, they are both to blame or are they ?
The fact remains that it is a big headache for any computer technician to diagnose this kind of problem, often you don’t know the history of the computer and neither does the user, after all why should they remember what they installed 6 months ago they just want it to work, and mostly is does.One of the biggest support issues we get at www.telephone–support.net is on our Microsoft Office Support helpline about Office 2010 installation problems, invariably we need to set up a remote connection and use the Office removal tool to get rid of any old versions of the software before reinstalling.
3.5 Human Error.Does this really exist? With today’s current offering for Operating systems, manufacturers are trying to make them “Fool Proof”, I guess this is the apple philosophy with IOS, lock down the settings so you can’t screw it up ! I know lots of people don’t like this and blog about freedom of rights to use the device, but we see it as a good thing, We do get support calls about IOS but they are mostly usability issues, like how do I set up my email accounts or how do I back up with ITunes.
Yes we have user error still, but unless you do something monumental like delete your windows directory, most things can be corrected. User error these days should probably be renamed to user understanding, with a little time and tuition this is easy to rectify www.telephone-support.net conduct tuition over the telephone for most computing subjects.