Who here is "tech support" in your circle?

[Psittac]

Just curious how many of you are the go to tech guy for friends and family.  I got a phone call from my blind friend asking if his OS was 32-bit or 64-bit...... 2.5 hours later I got back home having fixed my dad's computer, my mom's computer, my friends computer and restoring his nieces iphone.  At one point early on infront of my mom's computer I found myself with hand's in the air saying "no one knows how to use a freaking computer".

 

The past couple weeks I have attempted to make step by step tutorials with screen shot's on how to do nothing more than update their machine and run an anti-malware scan, you'd think I was speaking Latin. Le-Argh

[Arika]

me but i don't want to be. constantly have the same co-worker asking me to fix his/his fathers/his son's computers because they are slow/have a virus/slower than it used to be/slow/slow/not working/slow and yesterday wanted me to set up a wireless printer for them

 

I'm happy doing it for family.

[KhandakeF]

Meeee!!!!!!!

[Bigbootyjudy]

omfg, I'm freaking tired of it. Every single time they have a problem they try to fix it themselves and usually end up making it worse and then they will finally call me to fix it. After I fix it they never ask any questions so that they can get an idea of how computers work so that they can do it next time.

[captain_to_fire]

Mostly me

[Dabombinable]

I am. Though mostly for my friends, my Mum (currently having to replace a shattered laptop touchscreen-god I hate glue) and my Grandmother (who was using a laptop with 512MB RAM+Celeron M380 in 2014).

[Noyu]

Mostly me as well.

 

What's hard is when they chat me in the middle of the day to rant about their bricked PC and to ask for solutions....

..

.

when they're MILES and literally islands away from me

[Zando_]

Me. I have a great aunt who runs a magazine, and like most people 70+, is totally clueless at technology. She can open word, type like a pro (literally, she can type insanely fast without many errors), and check her emails and update Facebook and stuff. But anything not online specifically related to her business, she has no understanding of, be that viruses, the network, or Windows updates. So it falls on me to fix everything when it inevitably gets messed up. 

[Drak3]

Shocking, on a forum of techies, we're often the techie slaves of our non techie friends and families.

[PhantomJaguarr]

I am. I even volunteer as head of tech support at my local library.

[Mooshi]

You're asking this on a forum full of computer nerds. Be like going to a car forum and asking if they like cars.

[Psittac]

21 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

You're asking this on a forum full of computer nerds. Be like going to a car forum and asking if they like cars.

lol, I figured that was going to be the case I just figured it would be a good topic as well as a way to vent.  I think my favorite techie-slave story would be when dealing with my blind friend.  That's how we met, I was teaching the only computer class at a center for people with disabilities and he came in, was the only time he went to one of their meetings as well as myself.  But I was looking for any opportunity to help someone in need and we got to know each other over the countless hours it took to reinstall windows on his very old laptop.  Over the past several years we have been good friends and I take pride in providing for all of his tech needs.  A few years ago when money was tight, I decided to build him an AM3 system because I figured it would be one of the biggest improvements he could have, seeing as he is on it for basically everything short of eating with his mom and when a friend calls him to hang out.  Still, no good deed goes unpunished. A couple years ago his computer self detonated and I was reinstalling and replacing hardware every few month's, must have redone his computer 5ish times until the last time I randomly removed the reset button from the m/b........... not a single issue again until a couple weeks ago.  Turns out he was bumping the reset button over and over and would eventually cook the OS.  I don't know why it took more than a year to start happening, but I replaced basically everything except for the core components in the process (oh wait, the fan on the ancient x1900xt died and started it all).  Anyways even though I appreciate the fact I can do that for him....... it can be more than a headache.

 

On top of that his mom started to think I had built him a faulty machine, that was more than enough stress considering I had no actual answers.

 

Tonight the reason I had to go and fix his computer is that his mom hit the clr cmos button while running because she was trying to plug in a usb cable for his nieces iphone update/format.  She was there the whole time with something to say none of which was useful but I got his computer booted and her phone fixed.  I just had to take a minute from responding when she had apparently selected the wrong input source on his TV.......... "would that have anything to do with the cable not working, it's wierd because it happened at the same time......... yakyakyak........"  Just kept my mouth shut and eventually responded...... "you selected TV not hdmi........." lesigh.

[LordMMX]

while we have few computer repair shops in city near my town [5 minutes of driving] , 90% of my neighboors come to me if they want to fix or buy a computer or laptop or something, etc... I'm literally making a living from it while not paying taxes because I'm not in business officially. 

 

sometimes I even get a computer or laptop that was in repair shop where they weren't able to fix it [or where they just want to sell new piece to customer]

[MetallicArcherfish]

On a tech thread you can probably expect 99% of the answers to be me

 

and to answer your question, it’s me.

[MetallicArcherfish]

1 hour ago, LordMMX said:

while we have few computer repair shops in city near my town [5 minutes of driving] , 90% of my neighboors come to me if they want to fix or buy a computer or laptop or something, etc... I'm literally making a living from it while not paying taxes because I'm not in business officially. 

 

sometimes I even get a computer or laptop that was in repair shop where they weren't able to fix it [or where they just want to sell new piece to customer]

Really you make enough to live and pay bills doing that? Or do you just not have any bills?

 

also if your doing it on a scale that big don’t talk about becase no taxes = illegal after so much money is made

[minibois]

I'm thankfully not, since people assume two of my relatives are better at tech stuff. They do come to me if they want stuff explained, because they say I have a bit more patience with them.

[McHox]

it's the worst,they want me to perform magic without changing anything.
tech illiterate people who dont like change are horrible

[Princess Luna]

I am responsible for pretty much every thing tech wise at my office even though it has nothing to do with what I actually do.

[chiller15]

I am responsible (along with my manager) for the IT in our school. This includes about 550 devices, 800 users, and any A/V equipment.

I am also the go to guy for my family and friends.

[SkyLinx]

Unfortunately myself. I am a developer, which for most people means "I'm gonna fix your computer for free".

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Yep. I even use an Access Database to keep track of those systems. 

[SkyLinx]

1 minute ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Yep. I even use an Access Database to keep track of those systems. 

Does Access still exist?

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Just now, SkyLinx said:

Does Access still exist?

Came included with my subscription of Office 365 Pro Plus. 

[SkyLinx]

Just now, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Came included with my subscription of Office 365 Pro Plus. 

OK. It was a genuine question as I haven't heard of it for ages

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

1 minute ago, SkyLinx said:

OK. It was a genuine question as I haven't heard of it for ages

Yea it's still around hahaha. Don't think it's going anywhere for the foreseeable future.