Fixing computer problems is no longer the quick task it used to be. Now, when you’re dealing with custom built pc’s averaging about 6 separate major parts, with each part comprised of its own little pieces, it starts to border impossible – or at least impossible in a timely manner. And that’s just hardware too. Counting all the possible software issues and incompatibilities, fixing a problem can border on days.
And days is simply too long. Often when a customer comes to me with computer problems it goes a little like this:
- Sit down and get the customer to explain what happened
- Keep pressing for more details. More often than not the customers description is very high level. “I clicked ok and it just showed up” isn’t very accurate. I need to know every detail leading up to the error. Most times that alone can identify a potential set of problems, or at least rule some things out.
- Research. Contrary to popular belief, IT professionals don’t know every problem that could occur. We know the common ones and we know ones that we’ve experienced before, and we know some of the stranger ones. 1 We need to look into other cases of your problem, we need to find patterns between occurrences and then apply them back to your case. We are not just Googling hoping to stumble across an answer. Although, we do use Google.
- Come up with a solution
Sadly, a lot of times the solution we come up with is simple: Reformat.
Yes I could spend 8 or 9 hours for the next 3 days removing all traces of the virus from your computer. Yes I could find the exact file that is corrupted on both your CD and your computer. Yes I could bake a pizza from scratch. But it’s not worth it. Not when there’s a solution that is fairly easy to follow and can get you back and computing faster than ever. Not to mention reformatting not only saves you time, it also saves you money, because I don’t charge you for solutions, I just charge for implementation.
That being said, every so often one of those really strange problems pop up and you can’t help but spend countless hours fixing it – but hey, we’re geeks.
Notes:
- I have been known to spend a lot of time on http://www.thedailywtf.com reading some of the stranger issues people have had ↩
I strongly disagree on reformat. It is merely taking route with least resistance.
It doesn’t solve the issue, it destroys it.
It doesn’t give you a bit of experience.
It leaves you helpless when reformat is not a solution.
Reformat is mechanical skill. One computer can do that to another, no human involved or needed.
Really finding, troubleshooting and solving issue is human skill. It is not built by number of formats you did, but number of formats you didn’t.
@Rarst
The reason I’m presenting reformatting as a quick fix is simply because in most cases I’ve seen, computer problems are user generated. However, a quick diagnosis can normally sum up if the issue is hard-ware or software related. Knowing that an issue is software related (be it OS or something you downloaded) you now have two options.
Delve into the problem and figure it out or eradicate the problem temporarily. Geeks enjoy figuring it out, but from a monetary point of view it just isn’t feasible. Normally tech repair places will charge a diagnosis fee and then an hourly rate for fixing the problem, or a flat fee to just reformat. It’s up to the client to decide which way makes more sense for them.
I know I’ve spent countless hours chasing after elusive viruses and eliminating them, but when someone comes to me and says they need the computer asap for something, I have to wonder if the time spent chasing down the problem is time better spent letting the client do other things.
Chasing virus once and being able to deal with it in ten minutes in every case since is more feasible option than doing reformat every time.
I know there are plenty people and businesses who stick with reformat. I can only talk for myself. I do not chase viruses for the heck of it. I chase so it doesn’t takes me reformat for every virus.