For those who had enough of my tech talk, I apologize. But last month I did promise to lend a few more tips here in the June Stet. I also promise this will be my last column on the subject. (Unless, of course, you beg me for more!) 

The reason for these columns, by the way, is because many times, tech issues can be the bane of a writer’s existence. Whether it’s a software upgrade, a computer glitch or our own mere ignorance, it can interrupt our work flow, aggravating us, distracting us, getting in the way of making progress – or a deadline. So if even one of these tips can get you through all that, then my work here is done. 

It's on the menu. This might seem a labor intensive exercise, but is often where you’ll find your answers. The idea here is to check every item in that menu bar (including "Preferences" and "Settings") to see if something might apply to your problem. Say you’re writing an article in a Microsoft Word document. Suddenly, a word you’re using is indicated as misspelled. But you know it isn’t! You hold down your mouse to see what suggestions are being offered, and the suggestions are in another language! For instance, “Willkommen” is suggested to replace “Welcome.” Huh? But examine the menu. When you get to “Tools,” “Language” is in the drop-down menu. Click on that and sure enough, “German” is highlighted. The solution: Scroll to “English (US),” make that your default language. Dort! Problem solved.

Reboot. Ah, the answer to so many computer – and life’s problems! One example: I was trying to do the very quotidian task of printing a one-page document. What could go wrong, right? After giving the “Print” command, I noticed the printer was taking wayyyy too long to upload the doc. Losing patience, I cancelled and tried again. I waited again. Still nothing. Finally, I turned off the printer, waited 30 seconds (always the recommended waiting time), and turned it back on. Boom-sha-ka-la-ka! The printer spat out a perfect copy within seconds. The lesson: When your device is acting odd, balking, freezing – whatever, do the reboot. It can’t hurt and most always works.

YouTube demos. Anything you can’t figure out, chances are YouTube has a demo of it. Some problems you’re encountering may be more complex than others. I won’t get into it but here’s an example – that I was able to improve on in the comment section, and was thanked by the YouTube creator!

Then there are demos of stupid stuff. Like how in the heck do I put the ear pods back in the too-clever-by-half Apple Travel Case? After wasting 15 minutes trying to figure out the darn thing, I consulted YouTube. Sure enough, a simple demo solved it beautifully. I had to sit back and marvel at Apple's cleverness.

Again, I could go on with more tips. But don’t worry. I won’t. However I will leave you with this last bit of advice -- a warning my husband gave me after I had experienced an iPhone nightmare: Don’t do anything technical after 8:00pm. Nothing good ever happens then. Trust me.

-- Laura Stigler