Autumn Cuellar

I've had to seek out help from software tech support in the past, so I understand the frustration that customers often feel in trying to get help and either receiving no response or receiving an unhelpful response. I've also been on the other side, providing tech support to customers, and from personal experience I can tell you that it's gratifying to have the customer walk away happy and with a working solution. Tech support technicians, in general, do want to help. Here are some suggestions for how you can help tech support help you.

1. Do what you can to help yourself. You can often save yourself days of waiting for a response from tech support by trying the following:
   • Restart the application or, if that doesn't work, restart your computer. An IT specialist once told me that half his job is simply restarting computers. Restarting a computer ensures that all acting processes are shut down and sometimes this is all it takes to iron out problems that have cropped up.
   • Reinstall. If a reboot does not fix the problem, reinstalling the software may reset everything to normal. When running the installer, look for a "repair" option.
   • Check the software's website. Most companies provide support pages on their website addressing common issues. Try looking at the FAQ, Tech Support Notes, and Knowledge Base articles to see if your problem has already been covered.
   • Do a web search. Use your favorite search engine to search for the problem. Often times, problems are discussed and solved in user groups or other forums, so an answer may be already waiting for you in an unexpected location.
2. When contacting tech support give them as much information as you can think of that may be useful. At a minimum, you should provide the name of the software application and its version (most companies make more than one software product) and the operating system (and version) that you are running. If it's a web application, you should provide the browser and version that you're using. If you're using one software product with another, provide details for both products. Also, if you've already tried the steps above to help yourself, be sure and mention that so the tech support technician can rule out troubleshooting steps.
3. If tech support responds asking you for more information, be sure to provide them with everything they ask for (unless they are asking for personal information). If you don't give them everything they need, at the very least you'll delay a helpful answer, and I'm sure you want to have your problem solved as quickly as possible.

Let me know if you have other tips for receiving quick tech support.

I watch pretty much any television show that revolves around dancing. I love music and dancing myself, so it's a joy to watch the professionals put together clever choreography and then execute it beautifully. I was excited to hear that two of my favorite former So You Think You Can Dance competitors were participating in this season's America's Best Dance Crew, and on the same crew, no less. They both had a fantastic sense of humor. I'm glad to see it's shared by the rest of their crew. Every week Quest delights me, as in this clip (the 1st two minutes are the best):