Computer Communication

"I cannot computer from when at work on Word to Print"

WHAT?!?

Yes that is just one of the impossible to decipher note I get about people's computer problems. Half of my job is putting on my Sherlock Holmes cap and trying to figure out what the heck these people are trying to say.

It seems that if you take an average computer user, throw a problem into the works and suddenly it is impossible for them to communicate.

I mean these people have no problems expressing the symptoms when they run into car trouble or when they are talking to their doctor.  Why cannot they tell you the problem on the computer?   My first thought to answer this question is that they must be used to only communicating to me via e-mail.  This verbal dialogue with me must make them uncomfortable.  But then I realize that the quote up above was a note, so that doesn't work.

So I am going to write up a simple tutorial for people to follow when they need to communicate a problem.

These steps are designed to assist the user in giving the administrator
the necessary information to quickly fix the problem.

First and foremost: computers are usually consistent. If it didn’t work the first time, it will probably not work a second or third. The best example I can think of with this is printing. Many people will send their document to the printer again if it didn’t print the first time. Of course the printer still didn’t print the document and all that was accomplished is that there are now 2 documents waiting to be printed.

• To report the problem include this information:
  • The computer you were using.
  • The operating system.
  • ALL error messages given (complete error messages not just a summary).
  • The software and it's version you were using.
  • The account name that you were logged in as.
  • The exact resource you were trying to communicate with (such as a printer or the file you were trying to load, etc.)

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