Create a Glitch Station

You will never be able to completely rid yourself of things that just won’t work.

By creating a Glitch Station, you set up a go-to place for the notes on these irritating techie things. The more information you can gather about a tricky glitchy thing the faster you can solve it.

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Create a Glitch Station sounds fancy and technical, but what it really means, at a minimum, is to create a new folder, name it “Glitch Station”, and save it in a place on your computer where you can get to it easily. I recommend putting it in the upper left corner of your Desktop. (next to the recycle bin if you are on a PC)

Set up your Glitch Station document

Your Glitch Station will become more and more useful over time, especially as you get better at recognizing and documenting glitches. In your Glitch Station folder, you will want to create a Text File (Word and Pages are good for this) also called Glitch Station. This is where you will keep your notes on all your glitches.

Your Glitch Template

Copy the following text into your Glitch Station document so you can cut and paste it every time you log a new glitch. This bit of text can stay near the bottom of your document so you can get to it when you need to. It will help you remember what you should document and keep the information in an organized fashion. It is super simple and not strictly necessary, but templates like these helps keep everything systematic and uniform.

—— Cut and Paste ——

DATE:

PROBLEM:

IDEAS/STEPS/IMAGES/LOG:

{Ideas and Things I tried to solve the problem.}

——– End Cut and Paste ——

You can use my Google Doc template if you like. Make a copy and save it to your own google drive or download it as a Word Doc.
GLITCH STATION TEMPLATE

Your Computer Specs

At the very bottom of your Glitch Station document, you should be the specs of your computer. This is the information that techies usually ask for when you call in for help. I recommend saving it to the bottom to the document because that makes it easy to find and out of the way. It is good to have it the information handy for when you need it. At the very least you should have:

TYPE OF COMPUTER:

Common types of computers:

• PC – Laptop, Desktop, or surface
• MAC – MacBook or iMac

OPERATING SYSTEM AND VERSION:

Common types of operating systems:

• PC – Windows (Windows 10 is the current version)
• MAC – Mac OS (Big Sur is the most recent version, Catalina is the previous version.)

To find your operating system:

MAC

Upper left corner click on the Apple and choose About My MAC

PC

1. Open your File Explorer
2. Right-click on “this PC”
3. Choose Properties

Over time you may add more information as you need it. Anything that you need to look up about your computer can be captured and documented in your Computer Specs section of your Glitch Station document.

For more on setting up a Glitch Station visit the BLOG POST: Create a Glitch Station to Conquer Computer Weirdness

Documenting your Glitches

When something goes weird the easiest thing to do is take a screenshot and paste it into your document. Also add the date and a quick sentence or two of what happened. Sometimes obvious problems in the moment are not so obvious a few days later when you are looking at the screenshot.

It is ok to simply capture the problem and not try to fix it right away. Just capturing the information will set your subconscious brain to work on it and if it happens again you may have an answer ready. This also allows you to be ready when you finally get that techie on the phone.

Glitch Documentation

The template recommended in the section above about creating your Glitch Station document is designed to keep your glitches separate and is the bare minimum you should be documenting when creating a new glitch entry.

Here is a checklist for some of the things you should document when you have time to really tackle a tricky glitch.

• What program/website are you using?
• Describe the steps you took right before the weirdness started.
• Describe the weirdness.
• Take a screenshot of the weirdness
• Outline the things you tried to fix it. (FYI In the blog post [conquer-internet-troubleshooting] I share several things you can do to solve a variety of computer problems.
• An idea of what you think the problem may be.
• When you last rebooted your computer. (This solves so many problems that it is usually the first thing your techie will ask.)

For more ideas about troubleshooting check out the BLOG POST: Internet Troubleshooting

The magical screenshot

Getting really good at screenshots is one of the first steps toward mastering your technology. When you create a screenshot, you have proof that it really did that thing you think it did and you don’t need to rely on your memory of something that you didn’t quite understand. Tech support people are notorious for assuming you did something simple and “it” didn’t really do what you are describing. It is nice to have a good screenshot to back you up.

Here are some quick tips on how to do a screenshot on your devices. Practice taking screenshots regularly, so you get really good at it and don’t need to think about it when you need it.

• PC: Shortcut keys = Windows + Shift + S (If you don’t have a (“windows” key on your keyboard or the shortcut keys just don’t feel like working open the Windows Snip and Sketch program)
• MAC: Shortcut keys =  Command + Shift + 5

• iPhone: Press Power and Home buttons or Power and Up Volume buttons at the same time.
• Android: Press Power and Down Volume buttons at the same time.

NOTE: You can also just take a picture of your computer screen with your phone.

Save your Screenshots to your Glitch Station Folder. This will make them easier for you to find when you want to insert the screenshot into your Glitch station document or send it in an email or troubleshooting chatbox.

For more on how to capture screenshots check out the (knowledgebase article) KB-ARTICLE: How to take a screenshot

Resources associated with this Game Challenge:

BLOG POST: Create a Glitch Station to Conquer Computer Weirdness

BLOG POST: Internet Troubleshooting

KB-ARTICLE: How to take a screenshot

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