IT Professionals

PC Repair Is Broken

Posted by on Nov 15, 2007 | 5 Comments

A revelation hit me today when my Aunt called me with a question – she plugged in a new all-in-one printer and now the sound stopped working. To you, this seem completely unrelated. But in my eyes, it illustrates evidence of a larger problem. A complete lack of “basics training” for the typical computer user.

Not to be confused as a reflection of intelligence, this is simply a matter of furthering education on a subject that is definitely overwhelming to those who merely browse the web, balance their books and of course, check their email. I have played it over and over in my head – there has to be a better way to help people with very specific computer questions like this! Think about it, what good is it when a person has PC audio problems and your only solution is to shoot a video helping them over YouTube due to distance of location. Not exactly a recipe for success if the problem was Internet connectivity.

What I want to know from each of you is how you handle “remote” tech calls where remote assistance is not always an option? Do you simply try to help over the phone, come down in person or tell family in need that they are on their own? I have some working ideas, based on my own past experience successfully running a busy home based PC repair shop way back when. But I would like to hear your experiences, even if all you have for me is mirrored frustration at this point.

[tags]computer business, computer repair[/tags]

  • http://www.ebookarama.co.uk/blogitmyway Vince Andrews

    Hi, Matt

    May i take the time to say that i enjoy reading your articles and comments.

    I help quite a lot of people each and every month, from the i do not know anything class, intermediate class and even on occasion a guy that runs a shop near where i live. I tend to take a personal approach to the ones that know nothing and visit them and as i do not charge a fee for the time that i spend with them, they are very grateful for the time that i spend with them.

    Most of the people that i help are ones that are on very low income and it breaks my heart to hear that they would normally have to pay the local techies a fee of upwards to £35 an hour. Also by visiting them in the home i can hopefully get them more involved with what goes with having a computer in their home. As an example, one person that i used to constantly help at least 2 to 4 times a month, now no longer needs to call me out when he has an intermediate problem. He also now has the capability to help others with their problems because he paid attention to what i was doing on my previous visits.

    Intermediate people that contact me have the option to opt for a video or email solution and can often with that help sort out their problem computer. My conclusion would therefore be that i take a horses for courses approach to the people that contact me in the sense of if i feel that they are capable of following email or video instruction, that is the way i will go and then await the outcome.

    One other thing that i always try to do is get the, i don’t know anything class to get educated by using online teaching or a local basics course in computing. A good percentage of these people reward me by doing this and go on to take intermediate levels covering hardware etc…

    Vince Andrews

  • Ronatola

    I will go over to a friend or family person’s house ONCE to fix their PC. And while I’m there I install VNC or Teamviewer. If they ever require further assistance, I do it remotely through that tool. And then I phone them explaining what I’ve done.
    This saves me alot of travelling time and hassle.
    Teamviewer is awesome btw. It doesn’t need the IP and it even goes thru VLANS and most firewalls. It uses a password for security and is free as well.

  • David

    I used to do tech support; but not anymore. Now, if you call me with a tech question, you’ll get redirected to the Geek Squad. Reason being? I am frustrated by the vast majority of people’s ABSOLUTE REFUSAL to learn anything about computers! Anyone who runs a repair shop can expect to see these smiling individuals on a fairly regular basis! Knowledgeable people are in, get what they came for, and get out; and you don’t see them again until they need a video card upgrade. But the “I only use my computer to send pictures to Grandma” people are omnipresent.

    I grew up on the Commodore Vic-20. When you plugged it in, it beeped, declared it’s name on the screen, then proceeded to do absolutely nothing. The fun in having one was trying to get it to do “something”. The majority of today’s computer users have no interest in such feats of genius. Just as they don’t want to know how their car works; they ALSO don’t want to know how their computer works. Trouble is: a car is just that… a car. But a computer is NOT a just pretty telephone with pictures and text that plays music and movies! It can EMUALTE a pretty telephone with pictures and text that plays music and movies. But it is not hard-wired to do anything of the sort! So, occasionally, installing a printer causes your sound to stop working, or you internet connection to break; and it takes someone who knows (or at least has a vague idea of) how a computer works to remedy this seemingly unrelated situation (which is almost always caused by the printer driver’s insistence upon adding a whole suite of valuable yet completely useless utilities to your already bloated operating system).

    So… Having experienced my fill of shuffling PCI cards, removing spyware, and playing crossword with DLL files; I’ve decided to abandon the tech support issues to the younger and less neurotic geeks who roam among us. May they fare better than I.

  • David S.

    I try to do the “tech support” the best over the phone. Most are amazed at how I can KNOW what THEY are looking at without being there. No… no VPN installed. This just comes from knowing the OS used. When I hit a blind spot, and I can’t move forwards, I research the problem over the net myself. Next on the list, I shoot a message out the fellow techies (I am on a few of the “LockerGnome Tech Forums”), and get their opinions. When I have exhausted those avenues, I have to make plans for a commute by them or myself. IF I can’t make the commute work, I will advise for the person to take it in to a “local” shop (Geek Squad is Very Very Very Very last resort).
    I will also let them know ….. price in not going to be cheap.

  • Karen K

    As the ‘unofficial’ official fixer of systems for family, friends, friends of friends, I find myself constantly receiving calls from someone saying ‘It’s doing it again, and I didn’t do a thing….’

    If the call for help comes in an email, it makes me VERY happy, since that usually means they have a working system, at least.

    I use logmein, and once it is installed and running, fixing is quite simple. I fix, check, repair – while they watch, and as I do the steps, I leave a little notepad open on the desktop and note just what I’ve done. I also send them links to how-to articles and to useful utilities…

    Fixed systems for years (when I was younger ;o)..) and remote control is a great tool.

    Find this method works well, and people actually DO learn – but there’s no doubt that tutorials are the answer, if they are clearly written, in non-technical jargon.