What do you do when you have a computer or software problem?

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:23 pm

Ok,

Yesterday I admitted that I have low computer skills. Today I am confessing that I have LCFT or low computer frustration tolerance. It would be cooler to have high computer skills and high computer frustration tolerance, but so far I've not developed those capacities.

I installed some freeware yesterday (GIMP) and today I am somewhat stymied by the whole thing. It is not that important that I am able to operate the program, but I noticed that I was getting frazzled by my lack of computer skills. That's the inspiration behind this poll.

Please, feel free to tell me what you think of this poll!

NOTE: no emoticons were harmed in the compilation of this transmission.

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:47 pm

You forgot "Ditch my PC and get a Mac."

This is partly in jest, but not much. I have a co-worker who boasts about his PC skills, yet he's had the PC support people to his office a half-dozen times, for at least 10 total hours fixing problems, and this is in the last six months or so. (I might also add, these people are professionals, and it usually takes them an hour or two to fix the problems.) We don't have Mac support people, yet I consider myself only computer semi-literate.

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 8:01 pm

chas wrote:You forgot "Ditch my PC and get a Mac."

I ran out of poll options, but you may be quite right.

Never had a Mac though.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 8:53 pm

Depends on the what and the why.

Unless you have a specific error message, or you have a good reason to suspect a specific cause, reading manuals or help isn't going to do much except waste time. Even then, if you can get online, one Google search is worth about a hundred pages of manual, in my experience.

If you want to try to hack it out yourself, persistence, stubborness, and intuition all help, but remember the three rules of troubleshooting: change only one thing at a time, test every time, and if it didn't help, change it back. This is how good techies avoid painting themselves into corners.

Also remember the Three Laws of Rock-n-Roll: (1) it works better if you plug it in. (2) it works better if you turn it on. (3) it works better if you turn it up. Although they aren't specifically just for computers, you'd be surprised the number of times I've shown up to find and fix a problem only to find something unplugged, turned off, or connected wrong.

Sometimes you can do everything right, and nothing works. Those are the times to (1) get someone else's eyes on it--you'd be surprised how easy it is to overlook simple things in particular when you're convinced it just has to be complicated, and (2) if all else fails, backup critical data, wipe the hard drive, and reinstall everything. The good news is that last option--the techies' equivalent of global thermonuclear warfare--will always fix a software problem unless it's a corrupted data file. The bad news is that (1) it's a lot of time and trouble unless you've done it several times before, and (2) it won't do a thing to fix a hardware problem.

That's when you break out the booze...ha! ha! only serious...

--James

Post by **Dale** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:10 pm

The last few times I had a computer problem, all of which were due, of course, to the fact that I don't own a Mac, I called customer support and had very nice people spend a lot of time not helping me.

Ultimately I solved the problems myself by using Google. The art is crafting the right set of keywords. The nice Indian gentleman from Dell was unable to help me with my most recent problem. So, I finally entered the right string of google search words, and found an obscure posting on a IT forum by some guy in Texas who had had the same problem and had come up with the answer and the answer worked perfectly for me.

Dale

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:59 pm

I voted "get drunk" because I find most problems can be solved by turning off the computer, mixing two three or four drinks, getting drunk, falling down the stairs and turning the computer back on. Most problems can be solved by rebooting and the getting drunk stops you from taking a swing at the monitor.
When I first bought the Power mac ten years ago, I had horrible software problems. Most would have been easy to solve had I had more experience and turned off system extensions. I find all computers to be glichy and drive me nuts when they don't do what I want them to. I like buying hardware, hate installing the software. It causes more grief than a dyfuntional relationship . . . I love and need the computer, but it doesn't feel the same bond with me.
That all said and done, I do love the Mac over the PC. I boggle my dad's brain when I tell him I don't run virus software on the Mac. And I haven't for years now, it tend to cause problems on start up or compounds a software glich. My dad had a major virus that turned his computer into a spam distributor. And when it couldn't use the cable modem anymore, it started dialing out through his interal modem and ran up thousands of dollars in international calls. Yikes!

happyturkeyman · Post by **happyturkeyman** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:19 pm

My friend does not drive a VW Jetta.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:50 pm

If the computer is working enough to go online, that's what I do. There are few problems, no matter how obscure, that have not happened to somebody else. For OSX problems, I go the the Forum that looks a lot like this one. otherwise, I type in a series of words related to the problem and search through other boards etc for the answer. I never read manuals. I hate 'em and they don't work anyway or address what I really need to know.

Cyfiawnder · Post by **Cyfiawnder** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:50 pm

I do not drive a VW jetta!! You couldn't PAY me to own a POS VW. Theye are the Ford/Chrystler of European Car makes... I choose Other: I fix it myself, but I don't TRY to fix it. I just FIX it... Trying is for people who don't build their own computers

CY

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 12:14 am

So far it's a tie between reading the manual, and getting drunk. Ha Ha.

Google seems to be the cool alternative!

...... along with falling down the stairs and building a computer from scratch....Hey neat stuff!

JamesF · Post by **JamesF** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 1:08 am

Our old computer starts up when if feels like it (like, never) so I've put it away in the garage but only after kicking it numerous times and dropping it repeatedly from a height of, oh 3' (no higher than that. coz I'm scared I might break it even more.

)
I take it out of the box from time to time just to kick it around.

NZ_Chris · Post by **NZ_Chris** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:24 am

You left out the true fixes known only to the inner circles of PC techie people. Make a small burnt offering of the entrails of a chicken (or a goat if you have a Mac rather than a PC) Wave a magic wand (crafted from the thighbone of an appropriately ritually slain virgin) over the offending computer and chant the magic words "Oh why isn't this bloody thing working, come on work you damn thing"

That fixes the problem 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, the customer gives you money to just go away and leave them alone. So it's win-win really

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 7:03 am

Cyfiawnder wrote:.. I fix it myself, but I don't TRY to fix it. I just FIX it... Trying is for people who don't build their own computers
CY

Yep. What he said.

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 8:02 am

I'm with CY. Usually I just fix it. It's what I do all day. Look at the problem and fix it. Having done it for over a decade, most of the time I don't even break down how I know what to do, I just do it.

I haven't owned, driven, or riden in VW's since I cut my shoulder length hair, 25 years ago.

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 10:54 am

Cyfiawnder wrote:I fix it myself, but I don't TRY to fix it. I just FIX it... Trying is for people who don't build their own computers
CY

Lee Marsh wrote:I'm with CY. Usually I just fix it. It's what I do all day. Look at the problem and fix it. Having done it for over a decade, most of the time I don't even break down how I know what to do, I just do it.

I haven't owned, driven, or riden in VW's since I cut my shoulder length hair, 25 years ago.

You guys are light years ahead of me!

I have a friend that keeps the computers running at the local public library, she doesn't drive a VW either, she does have shoulder length hair though.