Help desk, how can I help you?

Have you ever found yourself playing help desk to your friends and family? I know I have on more occasions than I care to count. Now, as I’ve said before, I love to help but it can sometimes be very frustrating.

One family friend told me all about a phone call she got from Microsoft saying that there was something wrong with her Windows so she used her credit card to pay whatever it was. I cringed as soon as she mentioned the phone call. I did set her right, but it’s sooooo frustrating!

Another family friend needs clearly detailed written instructions on how to do just about anything on the computer. I still remember the day she asked if it would make any difference to her internet if she moved the computer upstairs. Or the time she worried about her files because she was going to get a new monitor.

Patience is clearly the key and I can understand why help desk operators start out on the assumption we don’t know much about computers. I’m lucky that none of my friends or family have been quick to anger either because I do know about the stories of abusive calls to help desk.

Are there any stories that have left you completely baffled as to how they came to a certain conclusion? Anything that makes you wonder whether or not people should pass a test before they’re allowed to buy a computer (like a driving test)?

The mouse maketh the (wo)man

As I have yet to do anything to fix my desktop, all my computing needs are handled by my laptop these days. Of course, ‘these days’ has been for the last couple of years or so. Seriously, all it needs is a new hard drive. I think. Anyway, sliding off topic.

The laptop is great. Does everything I want it to… except keeping peripherals connected when via the USB ports. One slight brush of the cable and it’s suddenly disconnected. One such peripheral is the mouse. I can’t stand using touchpads for long periods of time (which totally contradicts the need for my touch UI smartphone…). My mouse has served me well for the last five and a half years. Until now. It started double clicking everything that I wanted to only single click. Very frustrating when sorting through emails, copy/pasting files, etc.

I hear you saying, ‘So go buy another mouse. Geez. They’re only five bucks at Officeworks.’

While this is true, I find that I’m very picky about things in a seemingly Sheldon-esque way. I’ve handled and tested far too many mice than is normal until last weekend when, in sheer frustration, I bought the cheapest mouse I could find. Simply for the convenience of actually having something useable, but not wanting to spend a lot on something I’m not completely happy with.

It does the job sufficiently well, but the feel of it… It’s the oddest shape and makes me feel like I need to merge my fingers into an alien-looking talon.

So, how picky are you when it comes to your mice? Will any ol’ thing do, or do you test and feel as many as possible before diving in?