3 Common-Sense Things You Can Do to (Maybe) Save a Call to Your Help Desk

Sometimes technology just doesn’t do what we need it to, an annoyance that leads most users to call the help desk for assistance. While this is certainly well and good, we thought we would share a couple of tips that you can use to save some time for both yourself and your help desk, hopefully leading to a faster and more efficient way of troubleshooting problems.

Keep in mind that, as always, these kinds of tips are not designed to be a replacement for asking questions when you do not know what to do next. If any of these tips go over your head and you are uncomfortable with doing some troubleshooting on your own, by all means, contact your help desk. It is better to ask questions and get help when it’s needed than to do something you are uncomfortable with, resulting in a potentially disastrous situation.

Restart the Program or Application

Your first step toward figuring out your technology issues is to determine if it is a hardware or a software problem. Therefore, your first response should be to try closing your programs and seeing if that helps. If this works, then great—you can get right back to work. Just make a quick note and be sure to report the issue to IT, though. The last thing you want is to let a problem become persistent.

Check Your Internet Connection

For connected services, your Internet connection is vital, but sometimes you might accidentally disconnect from your network or lose your connection. When all else fails, check to see if you are still connected to the Internet. Most apps that require it are pretty good about telling you when your connection has been lost, but it does not hurt to check. If there is no connection, try restarting the router and see if that helps.

Power the Device Down and Turn It Back On

When you aren’t sure what the problem is, one of the best things you can do is to first try turning your device off and back on again. No, we are not simply restarting it. We are doing a hard reset, or power off. Sometimes just giving your device a break for a moment is enough to get it back to normal, but other times the issue that you’re having will persist. If this does not work, then try these other tricks.

Of course, when you find that these tactics do not work, it helps to consider as many details as possible regarding the situation that you require help with. Is it the computer itself that is not working properly, or is it the software on your computer? Can you explain in detail what happens when you experience the issue? Try replicating the problem yourself if it is a repeat issue—this will give you the knowledge you need to explain in detail to the help desk, which will go a long way toward helping them help you.

If you want to give your team the ability to seek technology assistance when it’s needed, JensenIT has answers. We can equip your organization with a help desk that gives your team access to the expertise it needs to sustain operations and resolve problems with your technology. To learn more, reach out to JensenIT at (847) 803-0044.