Before asking for the help of a geek, there are a few things to do first.

OK, so I think this counts as my first rant post. I’m not ranting about Apple, but about computers and their use, so close enough.

So picture yourself in this situation. You are a non geek, in fact, you’re not even a computer person. You’re having an issue with your computer. What do you do? You stop and think. You do not call your computer guy immediately. Weather the dude paid to fix your machine at your work or simply a geek friend to fix your home box, there are two things you can do before calling your geek that will make his day.

First, if you seem to be having some strange issue save all of your work and, properly, restart your computer. Many times this will fix any issues you’re having. Wow, you just saved yourself and your computer guy a lot of time, and all by yourself too.

Next RTFM! For those not aquatinted with the lingo, RTFM means please read the manual because the answer’s probably in there. I’m not saying that the computer illiterate can make sense out of the most complex manuals to extract every little function out of a powerful app, just the same as I cannot extract the whole meaning from a legal document, for example. All I’m saying is that as you use an app your expertise grows and, for features you’re already familiar with, the sections of the manual on the features you use should be within your grasp. You don’t need to know the why behind anything you just need to be able to see something in a troubleshooting section that says if your computer is dong _blank_ then you do what is listed as the fix for your problem.

What I’m getting to is this. If a geek comes over and restarts your computer and walks away having fixed your problem, you are going to be the person they make fun of later to the other geeks. You don’t want to be the guy who is ranked on the same level as the guy who simply needed to plug in his electronic device to get it working. If you cry for your geek without at least restarting, that is the level they will put you on. So this tip is for you and your geek.

-TommyDude

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