Have you ever been on a PC repair job that ended up turning into a slapstick comedy routine? You know the type; the computer gets repaired, then, as soon as you leave, the client has managed to mess something up in just under an hour. It happened to me recently with a specific client whom shall remain nameless for the sake of her privacy.

It all started when I went over to my client’s place of business to figure why she was having issues with her Palm Desktop software. After determining that viruses and spyware were not part of the problem, I proceeded in trying to repair her Palm software. Repairing, reinstalling, removing all settings and folders related to the program – nothing seemed to work. Tried system restore plus double checked that there was not any new software or new changes to the PC that had been recently implemented. This left me scratching my head as it was likely something easy. Ran SFC for Windows XP and whichever file had been hosed was immediately corrected so I could reinstall her Palm software. After getting her back on track, I gathered my stuff and headed for the door.

So I was sitting at Subway, eating my weight in submarine sandwich, when my cell phone rang. I fumbled around for a moment while trying to figure out a dignified way to answer it with a mouthful but gave up and let the voicemail catch it, instead. “Matt, I am so sorry to call you out here again, but I cannot find Word on my computer anywhere,” said the client whom I had just helped a short time ago. I exited my voicemail and jumped back into the car so I could head back over there to see what was going on. Now just for the record, I did install MS Word for the client personally. It was there before I left and I knew that she would not have uninstalled it for any reason. Anyway, I arrived and sat down to take a look at what was going on. Sure enough, none of the Office programs were showing up in the programs area off of the Start menu. So I repaired Office, and things were looking good. I turned to my client and asked her to retrace every document, device used, anything that had transpired since I last left her office. After she ran down a short list, everything seemed perfectly ordinary, so I bid my farewells and headed out the door (again).

Today, my phone rings and she has called to say that MS Word keeps giving her an error every time she goes to start it. (Circus music starts at this point.) Now, I have often toyed with the idea of doing a tech-related version of America’s Funniest Home Videos. I figure at this point I’d better be ready for just about anything – like Dick Clark and Ed McMahon jumping out of my closet with news that this whole thing is nothing but a joke. Seriously though, this client of mine is no computer dummy. No sir, she has a really good feel for what she is doing and would not inadvertently make harmful changes to her PC that could cause all of these headaches. Well, a little later today I will be heading back up there to see what has happened this time – with one key difference. I will actually sit there and watch what she is doing. This way, if there is something that she does to cause these headaches to take place, I will be there in the flesh to nip it in the bud. ;o)

Let’s get digital,
Matt Hartley