When the problem is not yours to fix
Recognize a problem on somebody else side and stop working on it.
Websites, banks, and email services run on computers you do not own and cannot repair.
When one of those has trouble, nothing you do at home will help. Restarting, reinstalling, and resetting only cost you time.
The signs are worth learning.
When those line up, the right move is to wait, and to check back later. That is a real decision, not giving up.
Key points
- You cannot repair computers you do not own.
- Failing everywhere means look outward.
- Check the status page early.
- Waiting on purpose is a real decision.
- Ask one other person what they see.
What to remember
- Two minutes of checking can save an afternoon of pointless fixing.
- Checking for an outage costs two minutes and often ends the whole search.
- Somebody else result narrows the search faster than any setting you can change.
Try this
Pick one site you use often, search for its service status page today, and save that page as a bookmark for the next outage.
Practice: When the problem is not yours to fix. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.