December 2005
Beginner
597 pages
25h 22m
English
Content preview from PCs: The Missing ManualBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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Appendix D. Dealing with Technical Support
Sometimes you need to call in the cavalry. You’ve tried System Restore (Section 16.3), and searching on Google for a solution to that persistent error message (Section 17.4). You’ve made sure you’re using the latest driver (Section 16.5.2.1) and firmware (Section 17.2.9) for whatever part is misbehaving. You’ve uninstalled and reinstalled the software, restarted your PC, and still you’re having problems.
In other words, it’s time to give up and throw yourself at the mercy of a tech support person.
This chapter helps you make the most of that experience—for both you and the person on the other end of the phone, email message, or chat window.
Getting Good Tech Support
Calling tech support is like going to the emergency room: you’re never there when things are going well. To make things as pleasant and productive as possible, keep these points in mind while your arm slowly cramps from holding the telephone to your ear.
Be clear. Most PC vendors now “outsource” their support, meaning your helper could very well be stationed overseas and speak with a thick accent. You both may have trouble understanding each other. Gently ask him to repeat himself when you don’t understand his words. If you can’t figure out what he’s saying, online chat (Section D.3.2) may work better for you.
Be specific. Don’t say, “I can’t see Google when I’m at my Start screen” or “My PC won’t connect to the Internet.” Instead, say “When I try to connect to the Internet, my PC ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.