Emergency IT support in Lyon

We regularly see perfectly recoverable situations become permanent between the call and our arrival, because someone wanted to “just try something”. This page tells you what to do - and above all what not to do - depending on the fault, while we get to speak.

Your data has disappeared

Deleted files, a folder you cannot find, a disk that will not open. Stop using the machine immediately. A deleted file is not wiped: its location is simply marked as free, and it stays recoverable as long as nothing has been written over it. Every minute of use reduces your chances.

Above all, do not install recovery software on the disk concerned: the installation itself may overwrite what you want to save. Switch off, and call. See data recovery.

The disk is making an unusual noise

Regular clicking, humming, repeated spin-up cycles: a mechanical failure is under way. Switch off and do not switch back on. Every attempt makes the damage worse, sometimes permanently. It is the situation where persisting costs the most, and it is a common one: people switch back on “to see if it works again”.

Something has been spilled

Cut the power, remove the battery if you can reach it, turn the machine upside down with the lid open in a tent shape on a towel, and leave it alone. Do not switch it back on to check: current passing through a damp circuit destroys what could have been saved. No hairdryer, no rice - neither does anything about moisture trapped inside a circuit board. See a spill on a computer.

Your files are encrypted and a ransom is demanded

Unplug the network cable and switch off Wi-Fi to stop it spreading, unplug external disks before they are hit, then switch off. Do not pay, and do not reformat anything: the ransom message and the extension added to the files help identify the family, and free decryption tools exist for several of them. See ransomware.

You gave a stranger access to your machine

A fake call from “Microsoft support”, an alert showing a number to dial: if you installed remote-control software at their request, that person had full control - files, open accounts, saved passwords. Switch the computer off. From another device, change your email password first, then your bank. Call your bank if you entered any details at all. See the fake Microsoft call.

A business at a standstill

If it is your working tool that is blocked, say so at the first contact: till, business software, business email, server. We look first for a temporary solution to get you working within the hour - moving to another machine, restoring a fallback access, connecting a printer directly - before dealing with the cause. See business IT support.

What is not an emergency

Best said plainly, it will save you unnecessary expense. A computer that has become slow, an update that seems stuck after twenty minutes, a printer showing as “offline”: these deserve attention, not an emergency call-out. A major update can legitimately take two hours on a mechanical disk, and interrupting it is precisely what creates a real fault.

How to reach us efficiently

Three pieces of information save a great deal of time:

• The exact symptom. Not “it stopped working”, but what you see: lights, noises, the message displayed, at what point it blocks.
• What changed just before. An update, a new program, a power cut, the machine being moved, a storm.
• The state of your backups. That answer determines the whole order of operations.

A photo of the screen, if a message is showing, is often worth more than a long description. You can send it to us through the contact form.

Remotely where possible

It is the fastest way: no travel time. If the machine still starts and reaches the internet, a remote session can often deal with the situation within half an hour. We will tell you from the first conversation.