Sometimes knowing about computers is a bad thing...

Unless it is someone I can be bothered to help out, or if they have badly broken something then I tend to just fob them off with a 'hmm... not seen that before, i'll look into it and see if I can find anything' and then usually they end up fixing it themselves by uninstalling 'UltraPORNBrowse2008PRO' etc.

Good friends + relative I will generally help out though.
 
Hades said:
I used to help a lot of people but don't now. The other day someone at work asked for my advise on components. So I gave it. Then asked if he knew how to put it together and it turned out he was hoping I could do it for him. I pointed out that I work about 11 hours a day and any free time I get I like to spend with my daughter and wife, not building someone elses PC.
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Why not do it in work hours when youve got some time spare? I do that wherever possible.
 
Glad to know that I'm not the only one out there! :)

One friend even texted me at 11.45pm that his Window Me computer failed to shut down! :eek: I thought "Great, I'm 24/7 tech support!"

It got so bad to the point that I decided to charge them, whether they like it or not! I usually tell them they are better off taking to local computer shop for the sake of friendship and for the sake of their businesses! :rolleyes:

However, I'm going to be self-employed for computer repairs & building pcs and I went to a see a guy at pc repair shop who I know a bit for some business advices. His advice was "Don't charge them too cheaply or they will take advantage of you!"
 
I only help immediate family.

I put together the pc my mum and sister have been using about 3-4 years ago and its still running fine with the odd trouble shoot now and then. Had a call from my mum the other night with her printer not powering on. The answer was pretty much "Have you tried turning it off and on again" :p basically dissconnect the power and usb and try again, worked a charm.

Also help my inlaws quite a bit, my wife's parents are a good ten years older than mine and even less pc savy. Done a couple format and windows reinstall on 2 of their pc's once my brother in-law went off on his gap year after completly buggering up the pc's with spam and spyware.

In general I dont mind setting aside time and helping them and I do get a certain satisfaction from fixing their problems. I dont charge them obviously.
 
hehehehe there are some very bad stories in this thread which i luckily haven't come across .... i get asked by my parents to help them all the time which i am usually happy enough to do if it is complicated... but the what annoys me are the simple ones that could be fixed by the family cat if they even tried... i wont help lazy people

i also wont help anyone that asks for advice, doesn't take it and then complain that the rubbish they bought in the end is broken already

luckily as you might of guessed not many people actually ask me for help any more :D
 
I just use comparisons to explain stuff. If people whine about the fact it was working before or it's new I explain that new car's can break down, be it a production fault or an idiot who didn't take the handbrake off etc. I don't mind helping people though because I can, and I appreciate the help of sparks, plumbers, leccys, mechanics etc. What goes around comes around.
 
Get asked by my mum sometimes, because of some dodgy sites my brother went on :rolleyes:

It's annoying that he asked me for advice and kept going on at me to find him a decent laptop. Then when he actually goes up to uni he goes out with his friends and just picks up one from a shop and now keeps asking me to send him some software for it.
 
you need one of these T-Shirts
710114x.jpg

;)
 
toy_soldier said:
Why not do it in work hours when youve got some time spare? I do that wherever possible.
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I tried that.

I eventually got fed up as the machines were in such bad condition that it was best to just tell people to buy new PC's.

I used to do the homers for academics at work for a while when I was still a junior technician. Had one lecturer who's machine smelt of dampness and he was wondering why "the power supply was dodgy". One academic actually wanted me to go to his home and install Linux for him, on the promise that it wouldn't wipe any of his "important" files, in my own time.

The worst one's are when you discover a PC at your desk in the morning from someone with a note that doesn't describe the actual problem, just something like "IE not running properly". One time that happened with no note of problem or who it was from so I just left the PC where the guy left it and didn't touch it until a week later when he turned up to find out how I was getting on with it. I just told him I thought it was for the skip and was ready to throw it out, he didn't look too happy about that. ;)
 
BUSH said:
though if its a hot girl asking..............
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And cue scene from Scrubs making the bed for the atractive nurse :p

I still try to fix PCs for people if it is either during work hours, I owe them a favour (not many people there) or I'm in a good mood.
 
I'm happy to fix PCs when I can be bothered, but what really annoys me is when people just don't listen! My housemate's PC was running slow, so I did the usual clearout and told him to run adaware once a week. He comes to me with all the same problems and he also wants some new memory, so I point him to the exact page on OCUK, tell him to buy it and I will fit it - and he does nothing!!!!
 
Don't mind the odd fix now and again, but I make sure I don't take money for it, that way I don't feel obligated to go fix something else next time.... ;)


Worst ever PC was one I built for parents, little bits going wrong repeatedly, and for no obvious reason, gave up in the end, told them take it to local computer shop, as i'd had a gutsful of it...
 
Immediate family, Girlfriend, etc is no problem at all, i'd spend however long it takes to fix, and never expect any payment whatsoever.

But friends of the family etc, work colleagues, especially one, who was just telling everyone "oh if you get any PC problems,just ask Sean..."


Ahhhhhh!
 
know exactly how you feel mate.. it drives me up the wall to. specialy when you have to do it all day in work for a load of ungreatfull muppets. i never charge friends/family but it annoys me when people dont offer. To be fair tho most people will buy me a few packs of fags or beers.

the worst is when you get some ****** you dont even know in work bringing there home pc/laptop in expecting you to fix it... i send them over to pcworld... HA!!!
 
Elderly couple I know keep having e-mail troubles (can't get or send them) because they keep uninstalling it instead of ending progam! Lost count of how many times I've reinstalled it & showed them what to do
 
I used to do this for a while. When people brought their PCs to me to fix i wouldn't give it back to them for at least 2-3 months, would say never had time to have a look at it (since they say, 'whenever you get a spare minute...'.) Obviously I wouldn't charge them (Family, Friends) but this stopped them coming to me :)
 
I've never really been bothered by people. heh, lucky.

Although a friend asked me a while ago why he couldn't print screen on his new keyboard, which a friend gave him for free.

This being over MSN, I talked him through updating the drivers etc, make sure it's plugged in etc

It still wasn't working, so I figured his keyboard was broke. I told him to phone up the person he got it off and ask if he did anything to it etc.

Turns out the guy cleaned the keys and didn't put them back in the right place :rolleyes:
 
I hear ya, I mean, what's so hard about installing windows xp? THE IDIOT HAS A BACHELORS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND DOESNT KNOW HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS!
 
The_morrell said:
At the end of the day PC professionals are just like any other, do you think that a doctor does'nt get asked all sorts of questions that he does'nt want to answer in his spare time.
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However most of us here are not IT profesionals, marely advanced IT users. I worked in the industry myself ;p

I sometimes get asked for help from my lil cousin or my imediate family. Stuff like that I do for free, however the aunty tends to give me a tenner now and then for fixing the stuff.
My parents are actually starting to learn on how to use PCs now that I moved out the house to uni :p not had many problems yet :) and my lil sister is a small IT nerd in the making ^^ - I'm so proud :D

Otherwise I sometimes get asked for help by people that my mum or my stepdad know. I get paid £30 an hour for it :)

Fixed my good mate's PC at one point too. I guess he repaid the favor by doing some free plumber work for my family and even though the work he did was probly more valuable than what I did, he eats BBQs round ours often during the summer :p

But now that I'm at uni, some people do ask for help here, but I just tend to forget about it. I dislike rellying on other people myself, like to pay back favors and such and therefore try to do as little as possible.
 
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I can relate to some of the story's on here, after working in a busy Helpdesk all day the last thing i want when i go home is to be bothered by PC problems in my spare time.

I never used to mind, but as time is getting on (and i am getting older) i am starting to get fedup of spending my spare time fixing other people's PC problems, especially when my own PC needs an overhall and i dont have the time to do it as im busy fixing other peoples.

Slowly i am getting the attatude that a line needs to be drawn, this line will be drawn soon and i will stop helping others out (except close family) as i find it eats into my own personal time and is never rewarded when i help people out.
 
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