08/04/2003 Entry: ""
Posted by Maynard @ 12:15 PM MST
A note from the Dark Cabal that Controls Everything
Here's a quick bit of advice from the tech support front lines for those of you seeking help for your computer problems. Let's suppose you have a computer problem and get a tech support rep on the phone to help you out. If he/she asks you a question, answer it directly using short words. Furthermore, don't attempt to explain everything that led up to your current problem.
Bad example:
User: So anyway last Friday Suzie sent me this email that was warning everyone about a virus that was going around and you know how you're not supposed to open them because you could get a virus that could wipe out your hard drive and get rid of those pictures of your cute boyfriend that you hanged out with last weekend? Well anyway I opened it because I figured 'hey what's the big deal its just a warning ya know' and anyway after that my computer started really acting slow like more than normal and I haven't rebooted since last Tuesday when I got that message that Windows had performed an 'illegal execution' or somethin' which is kinda funny since here in California executions are illegal anyway since we don't like the death penalty but now its going way slower than normal and I was wondering if it had anything to do with that new software I downloaded you know the one with the screensavers of all those pretty mountain pictures that I have running in the background?
Good example:
User: I can't get e-mail.
Tech Support: What Windows version are you running?
U: Win 2000, service pack 3.
TS: Okay, click start-run and type in cmd.exe, then enter 'ping mail.mycompany.com' and hit enter.
U: It says 'Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0'.
TS: Okay, try sending & receiving e-mail again.
U: Hey, it works now!
TS: Okay, good. It was probably a temporary network problem, nothing that you did wrong.
Notice the difference? In the first example, the user says lots but doesn't get their problems solved. In the second, the user says little and things work. Note how the Tech Support Rep is quickly able to recommend a diagnostic to find the cause of the problem. Note how he then recommends a confirmation of the diagnostics results. Note how the user doesn't assume that they had the answers to the problem.
Just some simple advice.
P.S. The 'Dark Cabal that Controls Everything' is a reference to this song.
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