Computers are at the cornerstone of almost everything we do nowadays. Are you going out for a run? Better set up your playlist. Have a meeting at 12:30? Time to set up the Zoom call. How we get things done, how we consume media, and how we mainly interact with the world is through our computers.
So what do we do if something goes wrong? How do we know what issues are arising? Most importantly, how can we distinguish between hardware and software issues? For the purpose of efficiency and clarity, it’s always good to seek help with a bit of knowledge in your pocket. So before you go and drop off your laptop at a repair shop, here are three signs that your computer has a hardware issue.
Freezing/Blue Screen
The most obvious signs of a hardware issue are in the sudden decline in performance. If your computer is freezing or, even worse, displaying the blue screen of death, you may need to take it to a repair shop.
Before you go and send your computer off for fixing, try, and look at local options. In this day and age, it’s always a good idea to support local businesses. If you’re in Manchester, find the most reasonable computer repair Manchester has to offer. Choose a provider based on your sensibilities and, what you feel, as your best interest in mind. That’s the key. So if you do get the freezing and blue screen, you know it will be fine.
Diagnostic Reports
The first thing you want to do, if you’re working with a PC, is to check the diagnostic reports. Before your computer does anything, it runs a self-guided scan, making sure that the main processes and functions that the rest of the system builds off of are working. If not, your computer will take note of that. This is a System Diagnostics report. To access it on a PC, you just need to go to the Performance Monitor. Once there, use the Reports> System> System Diagnostics> and then your computer name.
From there, you can access all the reports that have been accumulating. It will tell you what kind of error occurred on a full, almost clinical sheet. You can take that to your local computer repair shop, and they should be able to fix it–if it’s fixable.
Graphical Errors
Graphical errors are a dead giveaway. If you have a software issue, there are not very many avenues for it to suddenly change the color on your screen. You’re not going to have a glitched pink hue anytime soon with software bugs. These kinds of things are almost certainly hardware. There are some exceptions, like in everything. But if any type of graphical error happens to you, you can bet that it’s hardware. Best to take it to the local repair shop.
Hardware issues, unlike software issues, are not entirely fixed with a reboot or some sort of new installation. You need to have a professional look at it. At the same time, most issues that arise when it comes to performance are software related. That is unless you have a blue screen, a plethora of error reports, or graphical errors. That’s a hardware trifecta.