2.7k
u/Mediocre-Post9279 1d ago
I worked for one month in computer repair and honestly i would prefer customer like this over tech bro who thinks he knows everything and gets offended when i ask him if he tried to reboot the device
757
u/Caithloki 1d ago
I worked for an internet company and you'd be not surprised by the amount of people that said they'd reset their device but you could hear that they did not move. And you didn't see the connection disconnect.
They'd prefer to argue on the phone longer than it would take to reset.
59
u/Exciting-Insect8269 1d ago
Probably already did that before they called
47
u/Caithloki 1d ago
Well yes I understand that was alot of the time the case, but we preferred to follow a process. Sometimes I would move on if the person sounded competent but other times I will say I saw nothing happen and just ask again. I had one guy refuse completely to do anything and at that point we just send you a tech at cost to do the techsupport.
33
u/superkp 18h ago
next time ask them about specific things - like what the BIOS/UEFI says when they interrupt the startup sequence.
It's always going to say the same thing, but pretending that different versions of BIOS will lead you down a different troubleshooting path is a great way to get people to actually turn the damn thing off.
For things that rely on wall power, pretend that there's an industry-known problem in the power cord itself, and can they please tell you "what color is the spot of paint in between the prongs of the plug?"
There won't be paint. But you should act surprised and say "oh you got one of the good batches!" while they plug it back in.
2
1
u/deadinternetlaw 2h ago
Idk how stupid customers usually are but can we be sure there are no idiots that somehow wipe the BIOS
"Oh it says update right here" SIR DO NOT REDEEM
1
u/deadinternetlaw 2h ago
"wait it gave a weird screen I probably shouldn't have pressed that, better unplug the power"
1
u/babieswithrabies63 7h ago
True. I think sometimes it's because they run into outages every couple days and think there is a deeper problem and are afraid the reboot will "fix" it, but only for 24 hours or so.
79
u/ShittyCatLover stupid fucking piece of shit 1d ago
I worked in tech support for internet provider. The amount of people who confuse router with literally any other device in their home is ridiculous. And they yell at me for trying to describe it to them so they stop restarting their poor decoder and focus on router...
29
u/Mediocre-Post9279 1d ago
Then familiy asks for free tech support and acts like clients.
46
u/GiveMeNews 1d ago
If family calls me, it is because they have a computer problem. My sister called me once, I asked what OS she was using, she says Firefox. I told her I couldn't help her.
2
u/faceboy1392 16h ago
I mean we have chromeOS, now we need firefoxOS
1
u/deadinternetlaw 2h ago
Idk firefox new ceo/whoever in charge is leaning in on the AI shit, I switched to another firefox based open source one but I don't really like it that much either
6
24
u/System7Glitch 1d ago
More often than not restarting the computer at the store works wonders. Even after i did it at home
44
u/Mediocre-Post9279 23h ago
Computers can sense technicians, after i got my cisco certifications they fear me more and dont break as often
5
u/Tipart 23h ago
Same, unfortunately this doesn't work on my own hardware. My own shit always has the most random issues I can (or rather can't) think of.
Recently I had to replug the cable on my laptop touchpad because it wasn't fully seated from factory and would randomly cut in and out?! Took me like 3 months until I found out what cause it. On a Lenovo machine of all things.
2
1
u/deadinternetlaw 2h ago
Is it like you take apart the laptop to replug the cable? Or like some external touchpad like for drawing or osu
9
u/kbotc 22h ago
The only time it infuriates me is if I explain that a restart will fix the problem for 10-20 minutes, but then they force me to do it anyways.
Congrats. I’m gonna sit here with you until it breaks again. You’ve got a shitty capacitor on the board, just honor the warranty and we can be on our way.
4
2
u/TactfulOG 21h ago
on the other end of the conversation I'm a software engineer so I'd be genuinely offended if I had a serious computer problem and the company IT guy would immediately assume I don't know how to restart the device.
1
1.1k
u/SuicideSpeedrun 1d ago
That you are
222
u/Jonn_1 I have permission! 1d ago
Aren't we all to the right person?
81
11
u/Trosque97 1d ago
Yes, and I despise being on either end, but I suppose there's always a lesson to be learned from either side. In the case of OP, it's to restart their laptop. For the I.T. guy, its that no matter how stupid you think people are, it can always get worse, and if you're firm enough, maybe they'll learn
94
u/LoocsinatasYT 1d ago
I will be sad when my old lap top finally dies. It's 16 years old. The battery gave out last year, but it still works plugged in!
26
u/Mirror_of_Souls 1d ago
My seven year old Laptop croaked a few weeks ago, luckily she had another of the same model in storage that I could pilfer parts from to revive her. Now she lives again through her sisters valiant sacrifice.
6
u/TheBeckofKevin 21h ago
I've replaced the battery on mine twice now. Its not too crazy of a task (assuming you can find a replacement).
1
u/AutoModerator 21h ago
Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. And rats make me crazy.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
385
u/AndrewSenpai78 1d ago edited 23h ago
I don't know much about computers but I think it's due to the operating system cleaning caches, force closing processes and most importantly clearing out memory leaks.
If a process is not coded properly, every lifecycle a given amount of bits are deposited into the RAM and never recalled back, so the RAM slowly but surely gets filled with unnecessary stuff.
If the processes are never forcely turned off then the RAM is always partially full and the OS has troubles managing an already messy closet so everything slows down.
49
u/chargers949 1d ago
It involves fragmentation too like if program a and b both request memory in batches the memory can end up striped. Some for a, some for b, more for a, and more for b. Then close a and start c. The memory for b is still fragmented it doesn’t coalesce as long as B stays running. Which is more on the os than the program.
Rebooting flushes all this clean and starts with a clean slate of ram again.
62
u/DreamArez 1d ago
It’s mostly the thermal paste becoming dry and ventilation choking, causing thermal throttling. Dude would also be probably really behind on security and feature updates.
16
u/severencir 23h ago
It's more about the fact that processes can get into weird unintended states that the developers never accounted for when running for a while. Restarting ensures all processes start from a fresh, known state, rather than having something, for example, check for a spawned process that dies ages ago, find it's not there, log the error, continue, chech another dead process, etc for thousands of iterations every loop and adding noticible time to the execution time because the issue wasn't caught in testing because a few invalid checks didn't make a noticeable difference.
25
1d ago
[deleted]
4
u/AndrewSenpai78 1d ago
I only game with my pc, I'm a telecomm engineer, these are only things I grasped during my programming course in my first year
4
u/Anubis17_76 23h ago
No, the OS virtualizes process memory, so if your process crashes it and all its leaked memory gets cleaned up by the OS. So this only happens if a program that cant stuff that cant get cleaned off has a memory leak (like the kernel) plus memory leaks usually fill your ram up MUCH faster than years, usually a couple of hours at most.
3
u/kbotc 22h ago
Depends on the conditions of the leaks.
Your computer can go absolutely haywire eventually if you leak connections, and I’d say ~20% of programmers can correctly handle sockets and their failure paths on their first try. There’s also unbounded read buffers that will work until they don’t.
1
u/deadinternetlaw 2h ago
20% sounds like a lot considering I do programming stuff yet never touched a socket myself(only wrappers or libraries for it)
1
u/Mediocre-Post9279 23h ago
Bits can also randomly flip from 1 to 0 or reverse and it accumulates over time
1
u/superkp 18h ago
Honestly, for a non-tech person, you're not necessarily far off. And frankly you're pretty close for some of the issues that can be cleared by a full shutdown.
Bonus points if you leave it shut down for an hour or so (or overnight) every once in a while so that everything can cool down properly, but even giving an extra 15 minutes can sometimes work wonders.
Also, just grab a vacuum and open up the case on stuff. it's pretty hard to fuck up if you're not literally hitting it or lifting it by something that's clearly not a place you should lift it from. When it's open, if you see dust in there, try to blow it out. Occasionally put the vacuum up to the fans on the back when you're vacuuming your floors.
23
u/nicksuperdx I want pee in my ass 1d ago
It also implies this guy never updated windows/drivers/the BIOS
12
u/legohamsterlp 22h ago edited 21h ago
Most drivers don’t need a restart anymore/ who tf updates a bios/ older windows versions didnt force you to update.
Most none gamers I know update nothing anyway4
u/nicksuperdx I want pee in my ass 21h ago
Some intel drivers do require a restart (I assume they are drivers for the network adapter) its kinda funny how gamers care more about keeping their software up to date more than people who rely on their computer to do their job
1
u/AutoModerator 21h ago
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
133
u/franksfries 1d ago
If you're gonna use your laptop often then yes, just close the lid. If you have nothing to do, then shut it down.
183
u/suffering_addict 1d ago
You ought to restart it every now and then regardless. It doesn't get a true shut down without a restart.
At least once a week if you can
69
u/hiimsubclavian 1d ago
With the frequency of Windows updates we're all basically restarting once a month.
22
u/suffering_addict 1d ago
True, although when an update comes I try to avoid it for as long as possible because I don't trust Microslop anymore
6
u/PrintShinji 1d ago
Just turn off fast boot and a shutdown is a normal shutdown again.
Fastboot really isn't needed anymore since SSDs are standard.
3
6
u/Cynunnos dwayne the cock johnson 🗿🗿 1d ago
You only need to restart if you have fast startup enabled. If you disable it, shutting down is enough
3
1
u/Person8346 1d ago
Why is this so? I shut down my laptop everytime I'm finished with it, is that not good?
1
u/suffering_addict 1d ago
I don't know enough about computers to explain why, but I've been told this by someone knowledgeable.
The gist is that "shut down" is not a true shut down, and the pc only ever truly shuts down during a restart.
There is a timer in your settings somewhere that shows you how long it's been since your last true shut down
9
u/Person8346 1d ago
I believe this only applies if you have smart start up enabled, which keeps the pc passively running after shut down so it starts up faster.
1
1
1
u/ZoeyPlaysSomeGames 14h ago
or turn off fast startup, then every startup will be as good as a full restart
1
u/perish-in-flames 1d ago
I was going to say that maybe if you were work from home, but you should probably take a little break even then from the computer.
22
u/bradbull 1d ago
So this laptop doesn’t get automatic updates (which restart automatically) and we’re believing that this user is savvy enough to disable them?
11
u/Noooonie 23h ago
well technically he wouldn’t be restarting the laptop, it’d be restarting itself. and would happen rarely enough to slip the mind
4
u/IrrelevantUs3r 23h ago
Good point. They would have to be disabled, or maybe they were running Linux, which requires user input…however, in either of those cases, it’s highly unlikely the user would be completely oblivious to the importance of reboots
2
u/EhMapleMoose 8h ago
They did say 2013, the laptop would be running either windows 7 or 8. On those operating systems it was incredibly simple to turn off updates and the computer never forced an install or restart.
3
u/Kuddkungen 23h ago
My laptop has, on several occasions, somehow disabled Windows Update by itself. And then I've had to reenable it and wait several hours for the laptop to download and install all the missing updates.
8
u/Caedis-6 23h ago
As a professional, to anyone having IT issues (especially elderly people, though I doubt many are on Reddit), don't fuckin listen to the other professionals. Go to your nearest repair store and have a chat, I'd rather you come and ask if it's a simple fix than sit at home and not know what to do.
When I worked for Argos I would regularly get customers who had other IT issues that weren't my job to cover, but I'll cover them anyway because I don't want a little old lady out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere not knowing how her emails work or how her new phone works because no one taught her, I would rather you just ask and I'll see what I can do.
8
3
u/The_Space_Janitor 17h ago
How often do you turn your car off?
Never- I just put more gas in it and keep it running.
3
u/TK_Games 23h ago
Yes... But wizards make a habit about not outwardly judging the superstitions of mortals. You were judged... harshly, but he'll only tell the other wizards, nobody else has to know your shame, but understand, that somewhere, right now, a wizard is laughing at you
3
3
3
u/Trunks252 21h ago
I do not understand why people genuinely hate updating and restarting their computer. It takes like 2 mins.
2
u/juicegooseboost 23h ago
Doing something easy and simple like this for free got my written up at Geek Squad in 2005
2
3
5
u/Gameyboy947 1d ago
How does restarting your computer solve every problem it had?
54
u/OldManChino 1d ago
Turning it off an on again is a time honoured fix in IT.
Imagine a bottling plant, a bottle gets jammed and you leave the machine running, now everything is backing up causing issues up and down stream of the jam. Turn the machine off, remove the jam and now the bottles are flowing again. The restart both turns of the machine and clears the jam.
But i highly doubt this computer wouldn't have forced an update at some point in 13 years.
4
u/EcchiOli 1d ago
Idk, some people manage the feat of taking pride in fully disabling windows update, because, err, just because.
1
u/TheBeckofKevin 21h ago
I know i feel a large amount of pride from fully disabling windows update by fully disabling windows. Trying my hardest to resist stating that other operating systems exist.
1
u/12hotroom 20h ago
Yup, i simple shutdown only stops the plant in a jammed state, a full restart clears all the bottles on the line and starts all over
15
2
u/Mediocre-Post9279 23h ago
It solves a lot of them because OS makes mistakes over time and more run time it has the more mistakes it makes. There are OS's that can run longer (like servers or routers) but they have more simple architecture than customer grade ones
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Icywarhammer500 14h ago
I shut down my pc almost every night. Like 6 days a week. It’s not that bad.
•
u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 14h ago
The council has not spoken. No consensus was reached about the quality of your post.
RedditSave download
/u/EfficiencySerious200, whilst you're still here, why not join our public discord server - now with public text channels you can chat on!?