Tech Tips: Browser Troubleshooting

There are all kinds of Internet hiccups that can cause trouble when you are using web-based tools. Sometimes Canvas can get jammed up (clearing the Canvas cookies works very well for that), and sometimes your Google account can also get clogged. When you are leaving comments, for example, you need to be able to see your name in the dropdown, like this:

So, for this Tech Tip, I'll outline some possible fixes for browser-based software like Canvas and Blogger. Hopefully one of these fixes will work for you, and you can write up a quick blog post about what problem you had and which of these tricks fixed it for you! That way you can fix your problem... and get Tech Tip extra credit too, while also helping me learn about the different problems people might run into on their computers. People use so many different devices now, and I hope you can find a strategy below to work on your device:

Reboot. A good all-purpose fix for computer troubles is to turn your computer off and then turn it on again.

Alternate Browser. If you are having trouble with one browser, just try a different browser. For example, if you normally use Chrome, try using Firefox. If you don't have an alternate browser, install one. Chrome and Firefox are both great web browsers that work on multiple platforms/devices. There's a Tech Tip for installing Firefox.

Log Out / Log In. If you are having trouble with Canvas, try logging out of your OU account and then log in again. If you are having trouble with a Google tool (Blogger, Sites, etc.), then log out of your Google account and log back in again. 

Force Reload. If you are having trouble with a particular page, try refreshing that page by using Control-Shift-R to reload (or whatever shortcut does that on your computer). Control-R is the usual reload command; Control-Shift-R reloads the page plus all the associated files.

Clear Cache. You can clear your browser cache by following the instructions for your web browser. For example, if you are using Chrome, to clear the cache you can go to the Chrome menu, select Clear Browsing Data, and then check "Clear Cache" as the option you want.

Clear Cookies. You probably don't want to clear all your cookies (although you can do that), but you can clear selected cookies in most browsers by searching the cookies and deleting only the ones you need to delete. For example, in Chrome, you can go to Settings, then Advanced: Content Settings, then Cookies, See All Cookies, then Search. You can search for "canvas" or "google" or "sites" or "blogger" to find and then delete those specific cookies, based on whatever you are having trouble with.

Check Blockers. If you are running any privacy blockers on your computer, like Privacy Badger or Ghostry, you might need whitelist Blogger.com so that it will not block the cookies that Blogger uses to maintain your log-in session.

If none of those solutions work for you, let me know what problem you are trying to solve, and I will help come up with some more troubleshooting options!

To finish up, write a blog post about the problem you were having and which browser trick solved the problem for you. For the post title, use "Tech Tip: Troubleshooting" and use "Tech Tip" as the label on the post. After you've posted, you can do the Declaration!