-
Listening skills apply in all walks of life
When you're expecting sympathy and help it can be a shock to be reminded that you are the end user and not the expert.
-
Time is running out to get the Windows 7 Release Candidate
It has been a real boon for support pros that Microsoft has given us a chance to try out the next version of Windows before it is released to market. Now that a firm launch date has been announced, yo...
-
Customer vs. support: How can we end the blame game?
Derek Schauland looks for a path beyond the often adversarial relationship between customers and suppport pros. How do you stop the blame game?
-
Finding balance between supporting the technically savvy vs. the technically challenged
Some people embrace new methods and updated technology, while others cling to the old familiar ways. How do you find balance between supporting those two extremes?
-
New software vulnerability: Feature bloat in Adobe apps sacrifices security
Support teams are the boots on the ground when it comes to making sure that computers stay up-to-date and secure. Our job often gets more difficult when software companies rush to put more bells and w...
-
Are you a technology early adopter or a wait-and-see?
Our industry seems to divide into two camps: those who adopt every new thing immediately and those who are happy to wait until others have discovered or found fixes for the inevitable raft of problems...
-
Windows 7 Desktop Support certification will require a third-party exam
Microsoft's certification team has announced that in order to earn the new Enterprise Desktop Support Technician credential for Windows 7, candidates will also need to pass an exam from the Help Desk ...
-
Microsoft responds to Google's operating system
Last week, Google announced plans to release its own operating system, one that will presumably compete with Microsoft. This week, Microsoft responds with a challenge of its own.
-
Get off on the right foot with support calls: How to begin
If you bark at the users, they may bark back at you. If you want them to mew like pussy cats you have to give them a saucer of milk.
-
Add a new trick to your favorite tool: Magnetize it!
My new job has me doing a lot more in-house repairs than I have ever done before. As a result, I have been fleshing out my toolbox. This week I recommend to you my latest discovery. I think you will f...
-
Will you support Google's operating system? Take the poll
"Google to Challenge Microsoft With Operating System" read a recent Bloomberg News headline. But will you support it?
-
Jeff's top ten favorite help desk calls
Jeff's been reminiscing this week. He got to thinking about all those lovely, silly calls he has taken over the years and how they made him feel. Do you keep your own list of favorite calls?
-
How does your company refresh its hardware? Take the poll.
A new report claims that your company will save money by holding to short PC refresh cycles. Coming at a time where many organizations are trying to make their machines last longer, I started to wonde...
-
What's your pet peeve user-support issue?
Is there an issue that keeps coming up, regardless of what you try to do to stop it? Share it with the TR members.
-
What's in your work survival kit?
Being a field engineer can have unforeseen drawbacks, not least of which is surviving England's fickle climate. Some of my coping mechanisms are more effective than others.
-
-
Chrome continues to make the news
Dreams of ultra-portable PCs accessing Web applications delivered over the 'net via Chrome are dancing in some people's heads like sugarplums.
-
Supporting my laundry: Why some people are not cut out for the help desk
I don't like to be discriminatory, but some people don't have what it takes to provide computer support. Working the help desk takes rare hybrid of skills: customer service acumen and technical inquis...
-
Google's Chrome, and why it will change enterprise support
Talk of Google's new browser, Chrome, is on the lips of techies everywhere. Lots of people have criticisms, but the software shows Google is sensitive to the way we use Web applications. Supporting us...
-
Growing dependency on IT
With the passing of each year, it seems that companies are becoming more reliant on their Information Technology infrastructure. Consider how far we've come in a relatively short amount of time, and w...
-
Remote support planning saves time and money
Remote support planning saves time and money
-
Should you open your IT meetings to the whole company?
Should you open your IT meetings to the whole company?
-
Is Mozilla’s Thunderbird going to get kicked out of the nest?
Is Mozilla’s Thunderbird going to get kicked out of the nest?
-
Bullying in the workplace – Do you tolerate it?
Bullying in the workplace – Do you tolerate it?
-
-
Why you shouldn't "deal" with customers
Why you shouldn't "deal" with customers
-
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 providing...
-
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. Here's ...
-
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 wi...
-
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 access v...