That Damn PC: Hardware, Software, Virus, Malware, PC Troubleshooting,

For the love of all that is helpful, write it down

by Jesse on May 27th, 2008

I love hearing great stories from IT people and nonits (what I’ve decided to call non-IT folk) and below is part of an email that a lovely IT reader sent in:

If something does break and there are error messages that come up, WRITE THEM DOWN. I can’t stress this enough, those error messages appear for a reason and usually indicate the problem. If you can’t duplicate the issue then it’s not an issue anymore.

To explain this a little clearer, lets break this apart into easier to digest chunks.

1. When an error message pops up on the screen, it means there is a problem. No, the computer does not spit them out for no apparent reason and no they are not there to amuse and excite (although many of them are quite amusing.
2. Write them down should be a no brainer but so many people click OK without even thinking or reading what the message said. As in the first step above, these messages pop up for a reason. Make sure you keep a copy of them (a screen shot would be best) in a form that someone else will be able to understand. Read: Write out the full error, not just “Microsoft Word said error.”
3. Finally, if you can’t reproduce it, it’s not an issue anymore is not always true. Many times issues that can’t be reproduced are not gone, they are just sleeping. Think of it like when your dog finally takes a break from chewing up your couch. It’s not that he won’t chew anymore, it’s that he’s too tired to eat another cushion. But take heed, follow steps one and two so that you will save your cushions and your couch.

To many people ignore the warnings that are staring them in the face. If your computer starts to act up, spits out funny messages or down right BSODs, stop and open a ticket, call your nearest nerd-tech guy or simply go out for a smoke break. You’ll thank me later, I can guarantee it.

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POSTED IN: Ask a Tech, OS Troubleshooting, PC Fixes, Tech Support