Pages

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Why rebooting fixes computer problems - Houston Chronicle

Q. Many times when I am having a computer problem my IT guy will tell me to reboot my computer. And most of the time this will actually fix the problem. Why is that?

A. As a computer is running and being used by the operator, resources on the computer allocated to the processes and those same resources are released when the process is complete.

In an ideal world, this would be very routine and work very well all the time. But in reality, computer processes can run away and resources like RAM and CPU get gummed up.

I call this computer plaque and like to think of a reboot as the visit to the dentist for a good cleaning.

In my experience, the most common first step in correcting a computer issue is to simply turn the computer off and on again. It doesn’t work all the time, but it works pretty frequently.

Q. I am no longer able to browse the Web on one of my Windows computers. My email application seems to be working as I am able to send and receive messages, but anytime I try to open a Web page in Chrome, IE or Firefox the connection fails with various error messages. How can I fix this?

A. The most common cause of Web browsing issues tends to be a result of a virus or spyware.

Keep in mind that viruses, spyware and malware do cause actual damage to a computer’s software. Sometimes simply removing the infection is not enough to fix all problems as may be the case here.

The first thing to do in a situation like this is to scan your system.

Release Notes: Dwight Silverman's weekly tech newsletter featuring insights, news and occasional whimsy about the latest in the industry

If you don’t already have Malwarebytes installed, you will need to use another computer that can access the Web and download the installer to a portable USB drive so you can then connect to the affected computer and install the program.

Go ahead and scan the computer and remove anything the program detects and then reboot.

After you reboot try to connect to a Web page. If you are still unable to connect you will need to reset your TCP/IP Stack and your WINSOCK as they may have been damaged as a result of malware.

This may seem a little tricky, but it’s actually quite simple.

Start by clicking on the Search icon and typing in CMD. When the Command Prompt icon shows up, right click it and select “Run As Administrator.” Click on “Yes”or “OK” if any warning messages pop up.

Now, at the command prompt, type “netsh winsock reset catalog” and hit enter. You will see some text scroll by and the final message will say you have to reboot the computer to complete the action. Don’t reboot just yet.

Next, type in “netsh int ip reset reset.log” and hit Enter.

You will again see a message about rebooting and this time you will want to go ahead and restart the computer. When it boots back up you should be able to use your Web browsers.

helpline@chron.com

Let's block ads! (Why?)



"computer" - Google News
January 01, 2020 at 05:00PM
https://ift.tt/37vfovz

Why rebooting fixes computer problems - Houston Chronicle
"computer" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2PlK2zT
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

No comments:

Post a Comment