EASY FIX

If you have worked with computers, there have been times when you yelled at your computer, maybe said some bad words and wanted to throw the damned thing out the window. I have been in that situation lots of times, most recently this morning.

My wife couldn’t get on the internet with her computer, a Windows 7 Toshiba laptop. When it works, it connects to the internet through a wireless router. I went to the control panel on her machine and opened Network and Sharing Center and tried to connect from there. I was told that either there was a loose connection or I need a driver update. (A driver is a program that runs some element of the computer or something attached to it.)

I knew it wasn’t a loose connection because the Toshiba connects wirelessly, and my computer was getting on the internet with no problem. And if the problem was a driver, how could I download a driver if the machine wasn’t connected to the internet?

How to solve the problem? Maybe I could connect Janet’s computer directly by connecting it to the router if I had an Ethernet wire that was long enough. Of course that would eliminate one of the advantages of a laptop. She would have to remain close enough to the router for the wire to reach.

I have an old router. Maybe if Janet’s computer could not connect the router I am using now, she would be able to connect through the old one. I didn’t think there would be a problem connecting two routers to the modem that brings the internet signal into the house.

I had to go someplace and didn’t have time to try hooking up any of these wiring combinations, but I wanted to try something quick and easy before I left.

I turned the computer off and turned it back, and it connected with the internet.

Often computer problems can be fixed that easily. Before you get all frustrated and start saying bad words and thinking about throwing you machine out the window, just turn it off and turn it back on. Often that’s all it takes.