Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Any fan of The IT Crowd on Channel 4 will smile at the phrase 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?' - It's often the first line spoken by Roy the IT support guy when the IT support phone rings.

Roy answering the phone with 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?' is a great comedy moment mainly because we have all at some time spoken to a techical support person who has asked us 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?'

The truth is many problems are solved by re-booting the PC. Temporary factors are sometimes the cause of problems and turning it off and on again is usually a good first step to see if the problem cures itself. If it doesn't what have you lost?!