Technology is an awesome way to streamline your business operations, but being prepared for the unexpected can be a huge help. Here are some common computer performance issues that we often hear about – but are not the result of Jackrabbit’s software application performance or accessibility.

Freezing up.
If Jackrabbit “freezes up,” that is, won’t respond to anything you ask it to do, try shutting down your computer, waiting a minute then turning it on again.  This is called “re-booting” the computer, and often fixes a wide variety of computer problems.  For PC users, if even your “shut down” link on the computer screen refuses to respond, you can turn off the computer by pressing and holding the “power” button on the computer itself until it stops running.  You’ll get an error message when you restart the computer after such a shut-down, but continue with a regular start-up.

Other possibilities include quirks in new browser versions.  The browser Safari does not work or play well with Jackrabbit at this time.  For Apple computer users, we suggest using the Firefox browser.

Information Not Saving.
Jackrabbit uses a valuable technology called Background Save, which helps the program run faster so you won’t be slowed down.  It saves changes you make, but doesn’t necessarily show those changes on the screen immediately.  If you make a change – say, change a family name – but don’t see your change on the screen immediately, refresh the screen.  You can do that with the Refresh button on many Jackrabbit pages, or by right-clicking anywhere on the page and choosing the refresh or reload option, or by using the F5 key.  All of those refresh the screen.  If you still don’t see the change, try signing out of Jackrabbit, then (pause, pause) sign in again.  (pause, pause).

Screen Display Too Small or Too Large.
The display can be zoomed in or out by holding down the CTRL key on your keyboard and pressing the minus key to make the display smaller, or the plus key to make it larger.  If you use a mouse with a center scroll wheel, you can hold the CTRL key and zoom in or out with that scroll wheel.

Login Fields Don’t Appear.
It’s rare, but occasionally the login fields for your user name and password don’t appear.  That is because the log-in application is on a separate server from the main Jackrabbit database.  It’s part of our commitment to making sure your valuable customer data is secure.  If that happens, you can bypass the regular client login screen by going tohttps://app.jackrabbitclass.com.

Error: Security Certificate Is Expired Or Not Valid.
Also as part of Jackrabbit’s ironclad security, we maintain an SSL certificate, which is the means by which web servers provide their identity to your browser.  Each SSL certificate is “signed” by a trusted certificate authority.  It’s the same system used by banks and credit card companies for security.  It’s rare, but occasionally browsers do not recognize such a security certificate and you’ll get an error message.  The most common reasons for this error are:

• Windows updates not current.  Make sure your computer is set up to automatically get and install Windows updates as they occur.  If you’re not sure, go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
• Your browser is seriously out of date.  Download a newer version of your browser.  It’s free.
• Your computer’s date clock is off, so it’s telling your browser it’s 1812, or 1926, or maybe 2067.  You can re-set your time/date clock.  If it keeps happening, most likely it’s caused by expiration of the small ‘button’ battery in your computer that powers your time/date clock.

Jackrabbit Runs Slowly.
There are dozens of reasons Jackrabbit and other Internet-connected programs could be running slower.   First, check to see if it’s your Internet connection that is running slow.  If the slowness affects only Internet-connected programs, it’s the Internet.  If your computer is slow running your local programs also, such as word processing, spreadsheets or games installed on your computer, it could be just your computer.

Test your Internet connection speed by going to http://www.speedtest.net.  Connection speeds vary by time of day, how many other people are using the Internet, and whether you’re connecting via a phone company DSL connection or using a television cable company’s coaxial cable.  Cable connections are *usually* faster than DSL.

See if you or someone else on the local network in your office might be listening to music, watching movies or other video providers like YouTube, or playing graphics-intensive internet games.  Those kind of activities draw heavily on your computer’s resources.

Not all internet browsers are created equal.  We recommend that you use the latest version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox or Google’s Chrome browsers.  Each of those browsers also has a Help link that can direct you to possible reasons for that browser’s slowness.

Last, it’s possible that your computer has contracted a virus that is slowing it down.  There are several free programs you can download to check for viruses and destroy them, including Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware, at http://www.malwarebytes.org.