Are all of your devices working exactly the way you expect? When something goes awry, are you confident enough to investigate? If so, troubleshooting can be as easy as identifying which application or system is at fault and restarting it.

Restart an Application

What if an application fails to behave as expected? For example, suppose Zoom stops seeing your webcam connected to your Mac even though you know the camera is built in and couldn’t possibly be lost.

Zoom has released a number of updates in the last month as the company has scrambled to increase security and satisfy the needs of a tremendous number of new customers. While updating an application is a surefire way to fix known bugss, sometimes a core function of the app stops working even though it just worked fine last time.

So, if you can identify that an application isn’t working, try restarting it. That is, quit the application and open it again. Perhaps it will work normally again.

Restart Your Mac

What if your Mac stops accepting input from your keyboard? If it’s an external keyboard you might be able to restart it, either by switching it off and on or by unplugging it from your Mac and plugging it back in.

If the keyboard is built into your Mac, then it’s an integral component and fully dependent on the Mac to function. In that case, your best bet would be to restart your Mac.

Among modern computers, it’s more and more rare that internal components break during normal usage and lifespan. Sometimes, though, the device just needs to start over. Give it a chance and it might start behaving again.

Restart Other Equipment

What if you can’t get online? Perhaps you can’t check email or visit websites. It’s even possible that only one device isn’t connecting and others are working fine.

If restarting the device doesn’t help, the next step up is the network equipment. Try restarting your modem, router, access point, firewall, or other items that enable your Internet connection to function. I recommend waiting 3 minutes before reconnecting to power.

Even if only one device is affected, restarting the whole system may be the ticket to ease for everyone.

A good first step is getting acquainted with the names of devices and technologies so when you’re looking for help, you know what things are called and will recognize keywords or understand instructions. Second, get to know how these things are related to each other and familiarize yourself with their hierarchy.

When restarting one system doesn’t help, see if you can determine what sits at its parent’s level. Then you might be able to sleuth out the root of the problem and resolve the underlying issue.