The Best and Most Efficient Ways to Learn Computer Troubleshooting

There’s nothing wrong with learning some computer troubleshooting if you need to occasionally check on your computer to know what’s going wrong and, hopefully, try to fix things. However, remember that troubleshooting computers can be complicated, tricky, and sometimes frustrating. With so many working parts and software installed, a number of things can go wrong. Still, there’s nothing wrong with learning some fundamentals in troubleshooting, and nothing beats experience as well.

In today’s digital age, there are certainly a lot of avenues of learning compared to the last decade. Aside from on-the-job and hands-on experience that can take time, learners now are more exposed to online video tutorials and articles that give step-by-step instructions and tutorials on how to troubleshoot specific problems without really resorting to actual repairs.

The most common examples of these are the YouTube videos on computer tutorials. Online technical support companies also offer many articles on their blogs and knowledge base pages.

Before you even start learning, you need to remember one important tip: When learning to troubleshoot computers, always start with the simple stuff. The tendency with learners is that whenever something happens, they tend to think that it is a major problem, when all it could be is a loose cable or something else minor. Always learn by checking the easy things first.  

While in the process of learning, one of the real challenges is deciding whether a symptom is hardware or software related. A lot of times this comes through trial and error. But again, the advantage of technology today is that you don’t need to go through so much hands-on trial and error because you can study this in blogs, articles, and video tutorials.

Oh, and all this learning comes free, courtesy of technology and the Internet.

When learning basic computer troubleshooting, you also need to learn about the computer you’re troubleshooting. You need to be familiar with whatever platform and operating system the computer has, be it Windows or iOS, and whatever type it is. Then, you also need to be familiar with every single program installed in the computer.

If you want to go further and you have some spare cash to spare, there are DVD tutorials available on the market that teaches about basic troubleshooting. Do take note that whether watching the free video online tutorials or buying instructional DVD’s, always take note of the hardware in a computer, and the difference of this hardware in desktops and laptops. The latter is more complicated so it is more advisable that, in spite of your learned knowledge in basic troubleshooting, it may be a better idea to call tech support just in case the trouble is complicated.

Lastly, if you know a computer technician or tech support person who has time to spare for you, a hands-on personal tutorial wouldn’t hurt. It’s always best to learn from the experts firsthand. Learning personally from a tech support person may often be better for some people than just studying articles or watching videos.