Bad things happen to PCs that interrupt your work flow, and often, we don’t know why. Late last week, I had completed a media brochure update in Adobe Creative Cloud’s InDesign, which took about a half-day’s worth of time. As usual, I exported the document to PDF so I could upload it to a platform called Issuu and then embed it on the website. But this time, something unexpected happened: The program shut down while generating a PDF. Time to troubleshoot.

While my problem was app-specific, the steps to troubleshoot most issues with your PC and programs are the same. Let’s go through the steps and close with resetting your PC, a step of last resort. Of course, at any point along the way, you could opt for a tech house call (many businesses still will not do this because of COVID-19 concerns) or taking your computer into a shop for repair, but that means a much larger chunk of time will be lost along with some money for the service. So if you can do it yourself, that’s a better option.

Start by replicating the problem. When you notice something is wrong, think about what you were doing when it happened. In my case, I tried exporting a PDF several times and then tried a variation of packaging the file, which includes making a PDF. Every time the program tried to make the PDF, it crashed. Once you have isolated the issue, you’re ready to move on.

Shut down all programs running on your PC and restart the computer. Open just the program that was giving you trouble and try again. If it still doesn’t work, check that the version of the program (or browser) is up to date. If it isn’t, update it, restart your PC and try again. If you have the latest version, think about when you last updated it. Recently?

Indeed, I had updated InDesign within the last week to version 15.1 from 15.0.3. I did a Google search for “InDesign 15.1” and checked the Adobe Community Forum, which contained several reports of the PDF crashing issue. An Adobe representative had responded saying the company was aware of the issue and working on a fix. Another commenter said he had uninstalled the current version and reinstalled an older one to regain the PDF function. I did the same thing in the Creative Cloud app.

Thankfully, by choosing to install an earlier version, Adobe automatically removed the current version and replaced it with the older one. Previously, Adobe allowed multiple versions of an app to exist on a computer at the same time, which can cause confusion. After a new install, always restart your computer. After the restart, I launched InDesign, opened my file, and this time the export to PDF worked.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, keep an eye out for the next version of the software to be released. In the developer notes, it should acknowledge the fix to the problem you had. You may then update to the new version, skipping the one with the bug. It’s usually a good idea to wait two weeks or so until installing an update, but when you’ve activated “auto update apps” to keep your PC secure, you can run into problems like I’ve described.

In fact, the most recent Windows 10 update late last month has prompted reports of failed installations, app compatibility issues such as losing saved login credentials and passwords with Chrome and OneDrive, and trouble connecting to the internet. Microsoft has blocked the 2004 update to some computers with hardware it has found to be incompatible with the update and is working on a fix.

In the meantime, here’s how to uninstall 2004 and revert to the previous version. First, check what version of Windows your PC is running by clicking the Start button, Settings and then About. Scroll down to see your current Windows version. If you have 2004 installed and are experiencing problems, you may be able to uninstall it and revert to the November 2019 version. However, Microsoft gives you only 10 days to uninstall. If you’re within the time limit, go to Settings, Update & Security, Recovery. Under “Go back to the previous version of Windows 10,” click “Get started” and click through the wizard that appears.

If you cannot revert to a previous version of Windows or you’ve reached an end to troubleshooting options on another issue, your last resort is to use Reset This PC. This tool allows you to keep your personal files, removes any software you have installed and then reinstalls Windows. To access this feature, follow the same path as above. Once you’re in Recovery, click Restart Now to access Advanced startup. A dialogue box called “Choose an option” will appear. Click Troubleshoot and then Reset This PC. Remember, while your documents will be saved, you will have to reinstall any programs, including your browser.