PC has a problem? Try rebooting it (really).

Sometimes, the best solution is the simplest one, and resetting your PC is often the best approach.

Computers can be frustrating. Especially when you don't know what went wrong, it's particularly annoying. For example, the site you're looking at might not have any issues, but images or videos won't load the next moment. Or an app that was working correctly is now using 95% of GPU resources without any changes. There are many reasons why something could be wrong, but often, it's true that the famous quote from IT cloud culture—sometimes, a reboot can solve the problem.

Modern devices are all quite complex, but PCs are especially so. With numerous different components and combinations available, bugs in programs are common. However, you might feel like giving up on troubleshooting if you don't see progress towards solving the issue. Anger may rise—why is this program that should be working not functioning correctly, what's wrong with it?

If this problem occurs frequently, most of the time, rebooting the computer will resolve it. In fact, while writing this article, this method caused a mysterious problem twice. Initially, Firefox couldn't insert tabs into its own window—something that had never been an issue before or for over an hour. After confirming that the mouse was working normally and no keys on the keyboard were mistakenly pressed, rebooting the computer made Firefox work properly.

The second time I started a game, the controller wasn't recognized. Restarting the game and playing with reWASD settings resolved the issue, but button inputs weren't functioning correctly. It didn't make any sense. As a result, before attempting further adjustments to the settings, rebooting the computer solved all controller issues. If you continued adjusting the settings, there was a real risk of breaking something that couldn't be fixed with a reboot.

"The next time someone asks for help fixing something, just rebooting your PC might prevent you from causing yourself headaches."