You’re working your way through an important document when all of a sudden the worst happens. Your computer crashes. The screen now emits uncertainty and fear. Will my work save?! Am I going to lose my progress?!
We’re going to be talking today about caps lock, protecting Word documents to auto-save in the event of a crash and generally what to do when your computer freezes.
Press Caps lock
Press the Caps Lock button to see if the light on your keyboard turns on and off. If it does, this means Windows is still working, but the program you are on isn’t responding and has caused your PC to freeze.
To fix this, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to open up windows task manager. From there you can right click the task that’s not responding and hit ‘end task’. This will get your computer up and running again.
How to set up Microsoft Word to auto-save in case of a crash
There is nothing more horrifying than losing pages of work due to a computer crash. Here’s how to avoid it:
- Click File> Options
- Click ‘Save’
- Ensure that the box ‘Save AutoRecover information every X minutes’ is ticked.
- Also ensure the box titled ‘Keep the last AutoSaved version if I close without saving box” is ticked.
What to do when your Computer Crashes? Reboot
Sometimes the fastest way to get your computer up and running again after a crash is to…turn it off and on again. Seriously. This often fixes a lot of problems in technology. Hold the Power button on your PC until it turns off. Wait several seconds before you turn it back on again.
Sometimes when you do this, when it turns back on Windows will ask you if you want to start the computer in safe mode or start windows normally. Select the ‘Start windows normally’ option by moving the arrow keys and pressing enter.
So now you know what to do when your computer crashes. Caps lock, auto-save and reboot. Now you can avoid those fearful moments once and for all!
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