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User Support
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Securing your home computer
A user recently asked me what I would recommend to keep his home computer as secure as the ones at our office. Here's the list of considerations I gave him.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | August 27, 2008, 5:56 PM PDT | Latest comment by slam5
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Is it okay to earn a bit extra in your spare time?
What are the ethics of taking on private work? Do you stay faithful to one employer or do you feel it's okay to freelance?
Posted by Jeff Dray | August 25, 2008, 4:35 AM PDT | Latest comment by techrepublic@...
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Extended warranties and paying for peace of mind
Extended warranties are often characterized as a form of insurance. Most consumer advocates consider them a bad investment. Does paying for an extended warranty ever make sense, or are they false...
Posted by William Jones | August 21, 2008, 10:32 PM PDT | Latest comment by Darren B - KC
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What's your biggest user support challenge -- Take the poll
Providing user support presents any number of challenges. What would you consider the biggest challenge facing IT professionals providing user support? What's your biggest challenge?
Posted by Joe Rosberg | August 20, 2008, 6:55 PM PDT | Latest comment by y2ktoou@...
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Solving support problems with good table manners
Remember what your mother told you about good table manners? They are as relevant today as they ever were, and they might help you find the solution to a support problem.
Posted by Jeff Dray | August 18, 2008, 1:58 PM PDT | Latest comment by tel196.au@...
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Connecting with clients: Is it possible to provide personal support from afar?
William Jones has moved a time zone away from the rest of his office and that has forced him to think about the effect distance has on customer service. Is proximity the difference between being a...
Posted by William Jones | August 14, 2008, 9:00 PM PDT | Latest comment by quicktoexit@...
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Technical support according to Dilbert
Good comedy takes some element of truth and stretches it to the absurd. However, the Dilbert cartoon series might not have to stretch the truth too far when showing the humor associated with...
Posted by Joe Rosberg | August 13, 2008, 7:28 PM PDT | Latest comment by mastertexan@...
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New virtual desktop offerings increase variety, but will they catch on?
Even though we have more processing power on our desks than NASA used to put men on the moon, there are companies out there who want us to give up that power in favor of "dumb terminals" that...
Posted by Andy Moon | August 11, 2008, 7:46 PM PDT | Latest comment by Zenith545
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Pranks and their effects
Over the years there have been many pranks played on users, some highly amusing and some downright malicious. When Windows 95 arrived and the new style desktop appeared, we had a great deal of fun...
Posted by Jeff Dray | August 11, 2008, 12:41 PM PDT | Latest comment by TechieRob
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Keep sunk costs from influencing your support decisions
Behavioral psychology has identified several ways that human beings undermine themselves when making decisions. One trap that can affect IT shops in particular is the so-called sunk cost bias....
Posted by William Jones | August 7, 2008, 9:42 PM PDT | Latest comment by Joe_R
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Vista's recommended system requirements were not realistic
Did Microsoft sell itself short when it listed the recommended requirements for Vista? Would it have been better received had Microsoft originally presented Vista as requiring a powerful hardware...
Posted by Joe Rosberg | August 6, 2008, 5:59 PM PDT | Latest comment by JCitizen
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Providing the right kind of help
In the world of supporting end users, sometimes the solution is clear. Sometimes the best solution is to take a bit of time and teach the end user how to solve their own problems. You don't want...
Posted by Tricia Liebert | August 5, 2008, 7:36 AM PDT | Latest comment by Jeff Dray
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Lo, the gas man cometh
There are times when the cheapest option may not be the best, but how do you justify going for the more expensive option? A recent transaction with a utility provider got me thinking about this...
Posted by Jeff Dray | August 4, 2008, 12:51 PM PDT | Latest comment by JohnMcGrew@...
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Go under your Mac's hood with the OS X Terminal
Apple's Mac OS X has a powerful command-line interface that many users will never even know exists. It's not for everyone, but for techs the Terminal can be a powerful tool. If you haven't...
Posted by William Jones | July 31, 2008, 5:48 PM PDT | Latest comment by josejperez1964@...
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The one terabyte disk: Is it reliable?
About a year ago, when major manufacturers made their first terabyte disk drives available to the public, a storage capacity barrier had been broken, albeit a mental one more so than a...
Posted by Joe Rosberg | July 30, 2008, 6:14 PM PDT | Latest comment by Ron_007
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Learning to say no!
Harping again on the subject of stress and burnout, I recently learned about the art of saying no. You will find that regularly taking on any job that you are asked to do will result in more tasks...
Posted by Jeff Dray | July 28, 2008, 1:32 PM PDT | Latest comment by Jeff Dray
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Sysadmin Day: a day for techies to celebrate each other
Systems Administrator Appreciation Day was originally created so 'civilians' could commemorate the individuals they rely on for their technology support. IT folks shouldn't lie idle this Friday,...
Posted by William Jones | July 24, 2008, 2:46 PM PDT | Latest comment by Madsmaddad
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Helping users optimize their Internet connection speed
With users becoming more reliant on a speedy Internet connection, including file downloads and e-mail attachments, it might be worthwhile to test their connection speed and make upgrades accordingly.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | July 23, 2008, 8:18 AM PDT | Latest comment by alt1231
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Button pressers and non-button pressers
Some people ask for help, others work it out for themselves. Is this what makes the difference between a help desk tech and a user?
Posted by Jeff Dray | July 21, 2008, 12:53 PM PDT | Latest comment by Joe_R
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Customer service the right way
Bad customer service stories are everywhere. They are so prevalent that a quick search revealed over two million hits. So what is customer service the right way? And is it possible that we get so...
Posted by Tricia Liebert | July 17, 2008, 7:51 AM PDT | Latest comment by HAL 9000
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Change the OEM information in the Windows System Properties panel to your own
If you want to add your own contact information to the Windows System Properties panel, or change the OEM information that's already there, it's a pretty easy process.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | August 12, 2009, 5:43 AM PDT
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Boot a sick Mac into Target Disk Mode for troubleshooting
William Jones shows you how to use one Mac to access the internal drive of another -- no screwdriver required.
Posted by William Jones | October 3, 2008, 12:16 AM PDT | Latest comment by williamjones
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The right way to format Windows disks using a Mac
A quirk in the Apple Disk Utility allowed me to create a FAT32 volume that would not mount in Windows. Avoiding the same problem is easy once you have an understanding of how Apple's formatting...
Posted by William Jones | May 7, 2009, 5:34 PM PDT | Latest comment by martygoleta@...
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The care and feeding of Li-Ion batteries
Lithium-Ion—or Li-Ion—batteries are in everything, and while they may not last forever, they'll benefit from a little tender loving care. This time, five strategies that will help your users...
Posted by William Jones | November 2, 2007, 3:39 PM PDT | Latest comment by batterynotebookcomau
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How to troubleshoot a computer problem
What steps do you go through in order to diagnose a computer problem? There's more than one correct answer, of course, but here's one way to work through the troubleshooting thought-process.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | September 23, 2009, 9:17 AM PDT | Latest comment by DKeith45
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Keep Thunderbird from building too big a nest on your hard disk
Mozilla's Thunderbird is a great cross-platform alternative for reading e-mail. I've found that the software can require some tuning to provide the best possible experience, though. Here's a tip...
Posted by William Jones | July 10, 2008, 11:53 PM PDT | Latest comment by libskrap
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Reasons to have dual monitors
If you had two monitors, what would you use the extra desktop real estate for? Joe Rosberg has some ideas -- try them at your own risk.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | February 29, 2008, 10:38 AM PST | Latest comment by Dr Dij
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Hijacked Address Book: How did it happen and what to do?
Most of us have seen those spoof e-mails, when a personal e-mail address has been commandeered for the purpose of sending spam, but in this case, to everyone in your address book.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | April 8, 2009, 3:35 PM PDT | Latest comment by SteveOfLA
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Advanced partition management on your Apple computer
All operating systems come with some means of creating partitions and formatting disks. Too often though, the included tools will come up short, omitting support for advanced tasks and non-native...
Posted by William Jones | May 29, 2008, 5:12 PM PDT | Latest comment by stuartbell
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Tips on avoiding hand and wrist pain while keyboarding
If you're like me, you spend hours at the keyboard. You probably, though, don't think of yourselves as classical pianists such as Andre Watts, Lang Lang or Phillipe Entremont. Nor do you likely...
Posted by Calvin Sun | December 5, 2007, 6:39 AM PST | Latest comment by waltjohnson35@...
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Vista's recommended system requirements were not realistic
Did Microsoft sell itself short when it listed the recommended requirements for Vista? Would it have been better received had Microsoft originally presented Vista as requiring a powerful hardware...
Posted by Joe Rosberg | August 6, 2008, 5:59 PM PDT | Latest comment by JCitizen
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What's in your desktop support toolbox?
Joe Rosberg is looking for the perfect support desk toolkit. He lists some of his favorite items for everyday tasks and is open to suggestions from TechRepublic members. What are the tools that...
Posted by Joe Rosberg | April 15, 2008, 10:28 AM PDT | Latest comment by XnavyDK
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A review of Sony's PlayStation 3 repair service
Video game systems are computers designed for a very specific purpose. What can support techs learn from Sony's PS3 service process?
Posted by William Jones | August 27, 2009, 11:05 PM PDT | Latest comment by StefDenis
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Getting it all done, the art of time management
Have you got a brain like a sieve or can you remember every little thing you are supposed to do? Do you have methods that help you to keep up with work or do you lurch from one crisis to the next...
Posted by Jeff Dray | December 8, 2008, 12:04 PM PST | Latest comment by webtips@...
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Who owns corporate e-mail? Is there a right to privacy?
Does a user have a right to privacy when it comes to corporate e-mail? Or is e-mail corporate property, subject to the whims of the company? Here's one story, what's yours? And take the poll.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | May 13, 2009, 7:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by Forum Surfer
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Best Buy's recycling program does not accept storage media
Before the company will recycle an old computer, Best Buy's policy says that the hard drive has to be removed. While it is prudent to make sure that there is no data on a machine destined for a...
Posted by William Jones | February 19, 2009, 11:13 AM PST | Latest comment by TonytheTiger
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What are your most common desktop support issues?
We'd like to know what you’ve found to be the most common, important, or recurring desktop support issue.
Posted by Joe Rosberg | February 18, 2008, 6:04 PM PST | Latest comment by szlzezezpzzz
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Never judge people until you have walked a mile in their shoes
I believe that it is important to gain experience in a variety of departments. Maybe we should try out a few other jobs to help us do our own.
Posted by Jeff Dray | October 27, 2008, 4:31 AM PDT | Latest comment by azra.rizal
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Be S.M.A.R.T. about your hard drive's health
Given enough time, all hard disks will fail. Thankfully, most drives support a feature that could give users an early warning before the bitter end. Here's how support pros can introduce...
Posted by William Jones | June 18, 2009, 5:00 PM PDT | Latest comment by cquirke
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Creative time management can save your sanity
One of the tools that has helped me more than anything in my career as a busy IT pro are good time management skills.
Posted by Tricia Liebert | February 20, 2008, 7:44 AM PST | Latest comment by Joe_R
