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Most BlackBerry users will have encountered their phone freezing or slowing up seemingly at random, at least once – heck, this can happen on any phone.

The BlackBerry is a little different however; as it doesn’t ever really turn off unless you remove the battery. Holding down the red phone key will put your phone into sleep mode, but pressing any key will bring it back out again, and it’ll still be frozen or slow as it was before.

You can always simply pull the battery from the back of the phone while it’s on, which won’t cause any problems and will reboot the phone. But surely there’s an easier way that doesn’t involve the rigmarole of pulling the back cover off, removing the battery, reinserting it and replacing the cover? Thankfully there is, and here’s how to do it:

Press Alt + Del + Left Shift (aA) together at the same time and release

If you’ve done it right then you’ll see your screen freeze for a second before going black. The reassuring red light should then come on and your phone will turn back on. Voila! A soft reboot, no data lost and any freezing or slow issues should be resolved.

Of course, if the issue continues you might need to consider performing a hard reset. This method can be used to eradicate software problems for good, but it will delete all of your data. You can back up your phone using BlackBerry Desktop Manager first of all, and the reset can then be found in Options > Security > Wipe Handheld.

Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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