Before the Repairman Cometh

By Tom McNichol

The easiest and most effective way to fix a malfunctioning computer is to buy a new one. Trust me on this one, you can't go wrong: Throw away your old computer and buy a shiny new machine with a two-year warranty, and all of your tech problems will be solved (assuming you still have your data files).

Of course, your financial problems will just be beginning. That's why the almost-forgotten art of computer troubleshooting is enjoying a quiet renaissance, born of economic necessity. And even if your computer skills are only rudimentary, there are many common computer problems that you can diagnose, if not completely fix, on your own. All you need is a little patience and a systematic approach to problem solving. (If you don't already have those qualities, it's probably time to stop practicing law.)

Before you crack open your computer and start strewing delicate integrated circuits all over your office, keep in mind that doing your computer repair pro per doesn't necessarily make it proper. (A little legal tech joke there.) Any repair that requires opening up the machine should be studiously avoided. (The possible exception is adding memory, and even that can be risky if you don't know what you're doing.) As the folks in the IT department like to say when no one's around, any lawyer who acts as his own computer repairman has a fool for a client.

Having said that, the most common computer problems are caused by a handful of conditions that aren't hard to diagnose. And knowing the basics of computer troubleshooting can save you a call to the IT department or to an outside repair service. The key is to approach tech troubleshooting the way you might attack a legal conundrum: by following a step-by-step plan that systematically narrows the possible causes of the problem.

1. Take the Digital Hippocratic Oath
Before you tackle any computer problem, take the digital-age Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm to your computer. If there's anything more frustrating than a computer problem, it's a computer problem you've made worse in your attempt to fix it. OK, so your computer won't turn on, or it runs really slowly, or the cursor is frozen. Don't panic. Computers perform functions by the rules of logic, and fixing them requires a similarly systematic frame of mind, devoid of emotion. Try to think like a Vulcan.

Before you attempt a diagnosis, protect what you have. Save all of your current work, which includes all files that are open. You can save these onto the hard drive, a CD, or a flash drive - or even to all three if you want that full Lloyds of London level of protection. Most of all, make sure you back up any data that would cause you to burst into tears if you lost it.

2. Start from Scratch
Begin with the oldest trick in the troubleshooting book: Turn your computer off, let it sit for two minutes, then turn it on again. There's a reason this is the first step every IT person takes when faced with a failed computer. Rebooting the computer clears the machine's memory register and resets it back to a previous, hopefully more stable, condition. Computers execute hundreds of commands in the blink of a cursor, and a single corrupted instruction can cause the whole machine to freeze or shut down entirely. Rebooting gives your PC a fresh start.

Remember that you want to perform what's known as a "cold reboot" - that is, shutting the computer down completely - rather than simply closing down the operating system, or clicking on Restart while the computer is still running. Shutting down the computer entirely takes longer, but it's more effective at clearing temporary problems.

3. Check Your Connections
Next, check for loose cables and connections, an often-overlooked problem that is the cause of quite a few forehead-slapping computer failures. In an ideal world, your computer is situated somewhere with plenty of room for the connecting cables. In the real world, your computer is probably jammed against a wall or plopped on the floor next to your feet so that its cables can easily become dislodged. Take a few moments to inspect the cables that run to your power source, keyboard, printer, and monitor, and ensure that all those connections are snug. When in doubt, unplug the cable and replug it.

4. Evaluate Your Hardware
Hardware can fail over time, and memory can become overwhelmed by the increasing number of tasks it is asked to perform. So you want to confirm not only that your hardware is functioning properly but also that it is sufficient to handle the tasks at hand.

First, check up on your various hardware devices by accessing your computer's Device Manager. (In Windows, right-click on My Computer, then select Properties. Choose the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button. In Mac, go to the Apple pull-down menu and choose About This Mac, then select More Info.)

You'll see a list of all the hardware devices on your computer. Devices that aren't working properly or aren't being "seen" by your system will be marked, and further dialog boxes may provide details about the problem-and suggestions for how to fix it.

If your computer is running slowly or seems to take an inordinate amount of time to perform simple tasks, the problem could be that it doesn't have enough memory available. Over time, your hard drive, like your grandmother's attic, fills up with junk. Plus, each time you upgrade to a new version of a popular software program, it invariably demands more memory. To run the business version of Windows Vista, for example, Microsoft recommends that you have at least 1GB of RAM (system memory) and a 40GB hard drive with at least 15GB of available space. (Consider these figures absolute minimums; to run Vista smoothly, you'll want 2GB to 3GB of RAM.)

Fortunately, upgrading your computer's RAM is a fairly painless (and relatively inexpensive) way to breathe new life into an old machine. (A 2GB upgrade optimized for PC users switching from Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later versions to Vista costs less than $50.) But before you rush out to buy more memory, you should rule out the possibility that there's a more insidious reason your computer's performance has dramatically deteriorated.

5. Evict Uninvited Guests
A slow computer may be harboring too many uninvited guests in the form of viruses, adware, spyware, or other malware. Each of these invaders takes up valuable computer memory - particularly spyware, which is software that takes partial control of your computer. To remedy this, run a complete system scan with a good antivirus software package, which identifies and evicts the offending intruders. The standard package, Windows Defender, is included in Windows Vista and Windows 7, and it's available as a free download for Windows XP. Companies such as Symantec and McAfee offer their own stand-alone anti-malware packages, which are well worth the $40 to $50 investment. It's a good idea to run malware checks on at least a monthly basis, rather than waiting for trouble to occur.

6. Start Up Lean
One common cause of a slow computer is that too many programs are set to load automatically at startup. To pare down your startup procedure, click on the Startup tab to see which programs are listed. Unclick any items you don't need to load when your operating system launches. This won't remove the programs from your machine; it will only keep them from opening each and every time you fire up your machine. Keeping the startup mode lean and mean will speed both the booting of your computer and its overall performance.

7. Defragment Your Hard Drive
The more information you have stored on your hard drive, the more likely it is that data from a single file is stored in different places on the drive. Defragmenting the hard drive gathers the scattered file fragments and writes them into adjacent clusters, so all parts of a file occupy the same section of the disk. In Windows, the disk defragmenter tool is embedded in the Systems Tools folder. Follow the directions in the dialogue boxes and be patient while the defragmenter works its magic; the process can take an hour or more, depending on how fragmented your disk is.

Following these troubleshooting steps can solve a remarkable number of your computer problems. And even if they don't completely undo every glitch, you will have significantly narrowed the list of possible causes. Then, by all means, be sure to give the IT guy a smug look when the first thing he does is turn your computer off and on again.

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