Solving your technology related issues yourself not only saves you money, it makes you more self sufficient also. And the truth is that most of the daily technical problems can be addressed by following some simple steps.

The first thing to do is the one most of us are familiar with. Just shut down your system and reboot it. This simple step works in almost half the cases. The reason behind it is that while rebooting, the computer will no longer have any misbehaving programs in memory, and hopefully after the restart the code path that led to the problem won’t run again.

If rebooting does not help, then check the software versions of any applications that you are running. Upgrading to the latest software versions can often resolve any issues that you are having, especially if the problem seems tied to using a particular application such as Adobe Photoshop.

The next step is to visit the website of the manufacturer of the computer which you are using. The websites have all type of information and FAQs, some of which may answer your specific issue also. You can also often find help from other users by checking the manufacturer’s user forums.

If the previous steps do not yield result, then search for the solution in Google. In the search query, be as specific about your problem as you can.

When everything else fails, why not try a friend? Almost all of us know about somebody who is good with technology. Ask for their advice and appreciate their help.

So the next time your computer plays games with you, try the above steps before calling a technician. Remember to keep backups of all your important data. In the unfortunate event of losing your data during a technical breakdown, this backup will be a lifesaver.