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in these dangerous times, not all are legiti- lem. If you have initiated the request for help,
mate. Choose sites familiar to you, like and the support person is employed by a repu-
pcmag.com or cnet.com; they are more likely table company, you can be quite confident that
to be reputable. your computer will not be compromised during
this process. You will be asked for permission
before the person begins remote assistance.
You sit in front of your computer and watch
Good options for people who prefer to in- what’s going on. You may be asked to partici-
teract with a real person:
pate, such as logging into your device yourself
Tech phone support: This was the stand- to protect your password. Be sure you have a
ard method in the early days of personal com- good backup of your data prior to using this op-
puters. It is still a viable option if you are expe- tion.
rienced enough to be able to explain your
problem and possibly make changes to your If you’ve tried everything:
device while on the phone. The advantage is
you get to speak with a real person. Disad- Take it to the shop: If you have what ap-
vantages may include a long wait time before pears to be a serious hacking or malware
reaching the right person and being unable to breach or mechanical problem with a device,
understand unfamiliar accents. taking it to a reputable repair shop or having a
tech person come to your home may be your
Live Chat: If you don’t like phone support, best solution. Yes, it will cost you something,
you can still get personal support by trying but if you’ve tried other options and still have
Live Chat, which is found on many website an unworkable device, this may be the answer.
support pages. Live Chat doesn’t involve talk-
ing; it’s done by typing, much like a text mes- Good help is out there. Know your style and
sage, but in real time. You request a chat ses- choose a support method that matches it.
sion by clicking a link and choosing or typing
your problem category. A chat window opens
and a support person types you a “Hello, my
name is __. What can I help you with today?”
message. You type back what you know about
your problem, and he or she attempts to re-
solve it. The big advantage is you are interact-
ing with a real person without having to think
quickly, as you might on the phone. Plus, your
person will help you narrow down your issue
and, if not solve it, transfer you to someone
who can.

Good options for those who learn best by Fred Barnett raffled tick-
seeing it done: ets for the Chciago Cubs

Video Tutorials:. If you like hands-on baseball game on Tuesday,
demonstrations, a good choice is the video August 16. Ticket were won
tutorials on tech websites (Microsoft has ex- by Barton Bernadtson.
cellent ones) or on YouTube, where you can
search for videos on practically any topic and
watch it being done and explained. A lesser “All of a sudden, we’ve lost a lot of con-
known, but excellent website with many in-
structional videos on computer topics is a trol,’ he said. ‘We can’t turn off our inter-
North Carolina site sponsored by Goodwill. Go net; we can’t turn off our smartphones;
to www.gcflearnfree.org/technology. we can’t turn off our computers. You
used to ask a smart person a question.
Remote assistance: These days it’s not un- Now, who do you ask? It starts with g-o,
common for a phone support or live chat per- and it’s not God…”
son to offer to access your computer remotely
and make changes to it to resolve your prob- ― Steve Wozniak

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