Who doesn’t like something for free? But in this case it is a free eBook from Mitch Tullock which is a fellow MVP.  Mitch is renowned for his new publication Windows 7 Resource Kit.  So what is Mitch offering us for free?

This is the opening paragraph of the free eBook:

Your sound card has stopped working, your computer seems sluggish, the network is down, your hard drive is clicking, you can’t view a website, your monitor is hard to read, your new webcam isn’t working, your favorite program won’t run, and a funny burning smell is coming from your computer. What can you do on your own to try to troubleshoot the issue before you pick up the phone to call tech support?

Some of what is included in the eBook may not be useful for experienced users. However, even experienced users and newbies alike can benefit from the freebie since it may jog your memory on what to check out before calling for support.

There is also another reason to become familiar with your computer. I recall talking to a tech support person who was employed by one of the biggest computer OEM’s in the industry. He mentioned that his company only allowed a maximum of 10 minutes on any one call. I mentioned that wasn’t much time to diagnosis a problem and he stated that wasn’t their job. Huh? Why were they answering the phone?

He said there were two different types of people who called for help. You have the ‘unknowing’ and the ‘tech. savvy’. If the person was ‘unknowing’ you’d have them get their restore disk and do a fresh install. You didn’t mention that they would lose all of their data. For the tech savvy you would handle the caller differently and see if you could actually fix the problem.

Be careful out there in tech support land. LOL

Comments welcome.

XPS format here

.PDF format here

Stop by Mitch Tullock’s site here