Tech Support

I know I'm not the only one who this happens to. Someone you know, however remote the connection, hears rumor that you know your way around a computer. This may or may not be true to various degrees. well, somethign goes wrong with their computer, Windows freezes up and won't properly boot back up, critical failures every time you reset, any of the 8,936,573,241 things that can go wrong with any given version of Windows. They call everyone they know who may know your number, eventually get a hold of you and ask you what they need to do. well, you ask them what's been going on, what they see, what they've tried, then find out that they're using Windows 3.1 or something so arcane that it's been years since you forgot how to fix the problem. After a few minutes of trying to tell them how to do it you remember that the main problem is not that they know how to fix their machine, have hit a brick wall, and are hoping you can jump start their memory, it's that they have no idea what to do in the first place. Because you're such a nice person, and because their kids have school projects due tomorrow that are locked in the steely cage of the hard drive, you decide to drop what you're doing and go over to do it for them. The process is just as frustrating as you remember, Windows 98 being less stable than water, but you do manage to remember how to work your way through all the myriad of emergency boot menues to find a boot that will let you reinstall the operating system from their burnt CD. The thought crosses your mind that you've never installed Windows 98 from anythign but a burnt CD. Eventually you get everything as stable as it will ever get and head home over an hour later than you thought you would knowing that as you drive their system is flooding with hundreds of trojans and viruses. But you sleep soundly knowing that at least the projects will get in on time.