Are you the Geek Squad for your family?

My mother and sister call me their personal Geek Squad. Whenever I go visit them I have a long list of computer service items to take care of. It is usually fun to help out.

Last visit, I installed more memory in mom's computer, sis's computer, and even in my sister's best friend's computer. I think the total was about 10 GB!

Her friends computer had such a pitifully low amount of memory that it could basically do nothing. Now it is totally zippy!

Obviously, 24/7 phone support is supplied with this "service contract."

I've got a lot more interesting Geek stories but thought maybe you did the same for your family. If so, post up.

Holiday season = family tech support

haha yeah I often get phone calls from grandparents, cousins and aunties asking me to explain or do things for them!

It's nice to do it though, at least you know they aren't getting ripped off by going to PC World or something!

deus_ex_machina said:

Holiday season = family tech support

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For me, it's an all-season job. I remember one time I had to figure out why our two windows (one XP, one Vista) laptops just all of a sudden jumped off the AirPort network. I fixed it, with natedadude's help, but I still had to tool around in the settings, which was ridiculous because I got it working the first time, then about 5 minutes later, did not work. Confused me. . .

Anyways, I am the one my parents and grandparents go to when something happens, like the printer won't print, or the computer takes too long to boot up, or Firefox won't open, etc etc etc. Usually the remedy around my household is 1) waiting, 2) plugging something in, or 3) selecting the right printer.

I work in the IT department at work. Going home and working on my computers that are having problems sucks...going home and working on other peoples' computers that are broke really really sucks...

Village Idiot said:

I work in the IT department at work. Going home and working on my computers that are having problems sucks...going home and working on other peoples' computers that are broke really really sucks...

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same here. I work in IT also and I came home a week ago to a dead Mac Mini I've had for a month. Dead logic board. Should be getting it back today.

I try and get good favors when I can

Thankfully no I'm not.

Village Idiot said:

I work in the IT department at work. Going home and working on my computers that are having problems sucks...going home and working on other peoples' computers that are broke really really sucks...

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yes, it does.. and you know it doesn't matter.. I can say "I don't know anything about windows" or "I don't do application support, so I know nothing about it" and it doesn't help..

so I end up googling for them.

Yep, my parents are old and hopeless at anything technical. I am always having to sort stuff for them
I got sio frustrated trying to show my dad how to program his VCR (remember them?) that I got him a Virgin TV box in the end (it's like a Tivo for our American friends).
At least he can manage that.

Dysfunction said:

yes, it does.. and you know it doesn't matter.. I can say "I don't know anything about windows" or "I don't do application support, so I know nothing about it" and it doesn't help..

so I end up googling for them.

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The worst part is people at working coming to me for advice on how to fix/make their 10 year old computer work.

"Buy a new one?"

No. Unlike Geek Squad, I don't charge obscene amounts of money, nor do I perform unnecessary services.

I have a long list for the holidays every year. My parents do great for their age (Dad 82, Mom 70). This year I bought them new computers and am just waiting on shipping so I can set them up when I get there. Mom never understands why I can't do many things from 500 miles away! Although most stuff can be fixed via an RDP session.

Not really no. I help my wife out when she needs it with troubleshooting but since I travel a lot she has become pretty self sufficient on most things. My kids don't require much help since they either don't do really complicated things with their Macs or are doing things they don't want me looking at their computers and finding out about (my oldest is in college on her own so I suspect that lack of proximity contributes to her situation as well).

A few of my friends with iPhones will ask me questions from time to time as will a few of my Mac using friends. My nephew , who is 14, is a serious computer geek and he calls me and asks all kinds of questions as he is kind of new to Macs. Lately he's been into Linux, which I don't know much about so it has scaled back.

Me too. Every time I visit pretty much anybody in my family, there is a list of "technical chores" they want me to do - tune up their computer, add memory, install a better disk... it goes on and on. I even upgraded the CPU on one family member's older computer! I do it all cheerfully. Where else are they going to get the help they usually really need, without being ripped off?

Yup, the Geek Squad is me. I not only have the immediate family, but also my community to help. I live in a 2001 home active retirement community. We have a computer club with a Lab and Classroom running 26 computers and a server. I am the Club's Systems Administrator. I run a computer help clinic for all our residents every Wednesday afternoon where I assist them fixing hardware and software problems. And, I run the Club's Mac User Group with more than 50 members. I do have one rule, no house calls except for personal friends. I have a lot of fun being the go to guy for computer help. And, I really enjoy introducing folks to the computer for the first time. That's a real rush for me!

My girlfriends family needs help constantly with their computers. It's fun sometimes if it's a software issue, but certain hardware issues just frustrate me to no end (so many tests!!!).

I don't mind doing it either, except for when I need to speak to ISPs or OEMs on the phone; I have to ask for about 7 different people before I finally find someone I understand .

I used to be, because my mom is computer illiterate when it comes to any kind of tech issues.

Not living with her anymore has freed me of that curse!

I used to be the tech support for both immediate and extended family, and also some friends. Heck, I even used to be the go-to-guy in school whenever there was a technical issue like hooking up a laptop to a projector.

I didn't mind at first but then it got to the point where people no longer appreciated me and actually expected me to do the work. They would get impatient if I didn't fix their problem at the first sign of trouble. So I started weaning off some of the outlier groups, like school and friends. Then I started weaning off extended family. Ever since my move across the country I haven't had to provide any help for my immediate family either. I don't let anybody at school know how proficient I am with computers, so my professors or fellow students at my new school don't ask for my help.

If any of my family or friends do ask, I simply tell them that I switched to Macs and have no clue how to fix Windows computers anymore ;P

Kash said:

I used to be the tech support for both immediate and extended family, and also some friends. Heck, I even used to be the go-to-guy in school whenever there was a technical issue like hooking up a laptop to a projector.

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It's funny that you mention this. I have apparently established a reputation in my section at school as the resident tech guy. I had to help someone with a projector problem today. I helped out because I was trying to be nice but all my friends thought I was helping out because the group who needed it consisted mostly of attractive women.