Providing tech support to your parents (in-laws count, too) over the phone is … a cross to bear. I mean that almost literally: you want to do it, you accept that you should do it, you even think it will be swell if you help them through their difficulty, but it’s not a pleasant stroll through the city (“He said he was the King of Tech Support! Let him solve this problem, if he can!”). Walking a very non-technical person through a problem on the phone, no screen in front of you, without the same software installed, explaining how to click on an icon for a context menu or how to do a Ctrl-Alt-Del or where to find that application we just ran three times before … is like wading through peanut butter in a blizzard. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with chopsticks and one hand tied behind your back and the other one wearing an oven mitt. It’s like … well, it’s not the most efficient operation ni the world.
Last night it was the in-laws, and, miracle of miracles, I was able to actually fix the problem (the stupid vsmon-goes-crazy bug with the free version of ZoneAlarm). It took most of the evening, and running a full virus-scan was the fastest and most efficient part of the show. But I managed to solve it (huzzah!), aided by their having a new machine that I installed at Christmas (rather than a six or seven year old 5/166 that’s been tinkered with multiple times and still runs Win98, like some, ahem, folks I know).
Next time I go out there, though, I need to document some things they should be doing regularly, as well as test out some sort of remote screen-sharing solution.
Don’t get me wrong — it is something I want to do (especially since I talked them into much of the hi-tech stuff they’re into), and I know it’s a duty I should do. Really. But if my voice sounds a little strained sometimes, or a strange noise comes over the phone line that might be static or might be the powdering of tooth enamel — well, I guess they can consider it payback for the frustration I caused them as a kid …
Bah, our Windows 95 still stays up for 3 days in a row. Usually. [laugh]
Yeah, but can you get anything done on it.
I have that Problem with both sets of parental units. They think that I have a mental photograph of everything on their computer and can just fix anything over the phone…
…On the plus side I did manage to completely hose my Dad’a MSN account for several day’s that way…
My mom has a cable connection and connot understand why I keep trying to get her to buy things like ZoneAlarm. “It slows my machine down” she says.
I’m absolutely not a tech person – witness my ongoing frustration with my system, but at least I know to wear a condom. Geesh, it’s frustrating. (have I said this before?)