tisk, tisk...what did people call you when you got your first computer? Looking back, what would you call yourself?
Oh I was an idiot
. 'Course that was back in '89 on my first 386 and running 1Dirplus!. I actually refused to install Win3.1 for the longest time 'cuz I thought it was too "gawdy" (for lack of a better word).
I don't expect people to know what I know - glad they don't or I would have to find a different field
. I would like it if they would retain just a tad of what I try to teach. I've spent countless hours typing up a manual that explains how and why it's important to scan disk, cleanup, defrag, etc. I give this manual to all of my customers and set their new computers up to run scheduled tasks each week. They still call to find out how to defrag. The reason is because they are too lazy to read the manual and each week they might be surfing the net when defrag comes on and they click out of it. Mind you, it's a select few but it gets old getting the same calls from the same people about the same thing
.
The reason I write alot is because the ecomony sux and nobody is wanting to spend money - we all happen to be hurting from this resession, which gives me a lot of time to spend here and not make an income
.
Back to the subject....
Retsel77 - PJ covered the critical items to bring. I have a small fortune invested in computers, laptop, external drives, tools, etc. Most usually just sit idle and rarley go on the road. What I do when I get the initial call is find out what the problem(s) is and pack what I think I'll need. If they happen to be on a dial-up and I'm gonna have to get on the net for a driver / updates / etc. I bring a loaner computer to set them up with to get on the net and bring their box back here and put it on my LAN - I'm allergic to that screech of a dialup
. Critical items that go with me are my philips screw driver and my utilities:
Belarc Advisor Sandra to name a couple. I have also found that an external drive or burner is very handy to back up a crashed computer. I perfer the drive to the burner because it holds more than 700MB. Most computers you'll come across have USB 1. The transfer rates are lousy but if you have USB 2 it makes it worth it.
prexaspes - North Country Touch - that's it! Is there a pill to cure it? If so, I want one
. BTW, you won't like Florida, I hear it's warm and sunny there. I'll be there a couple of months and probably make more there in that time than 6 months here. 'Course my heart is and always will be in the Adirondacks.
Mike