So who am I to be dispensing advice, and why should you listen to me? Good question!

I have been working with home computers for about 12 years, and most of the things I have learned have come from personal experience. Through my own ignorance, I have managed to royally mess up my computers in more ways than you probably care to imagine. There were people who helped me out and taught me along the way, and I rarely make the same mistake twice (at least not recently). Through the years I have had many problems that I thought were major, but in reality were very simple to fix. Once I learned that I didn't have to wipe out my hard drive and reinstall everything to fix a seemingly impossible problem, I started learning as much as I could about the problems and their solutions. As I started to search out answers to the problems, I learned about problems that I was not aware of, and how to fix those as well. I am no expert in the field, but I have learned a great deal from those who are.

I have been in computer support for the past eight years and have handled a lot of problems for people both over the phone and in person. I have spent a few years working in call centers, and am constantly amazed at the lack of knowledge and understanding that some of the techs display. If an e-mail program won't send and receive, they want to pass the caller off to the Internet Service Provider without making a few simple checks. If a system is running slow, they want to pass the caller off to another tech to help reinstall the operating system. If the online search engines will not search, or return nothing but porn sites, they inform the caller that they need to get in touch with Microsoft. If there are a lot of pop-up ads trying to get the caller to buy something to enhance body parts that the caller does not have, they mumble something about 'spam' and will not support it.

The saddest part of this is the fact that a few simple practices and programs can eliminate ALL of these problems, and most can be had for little or no money.

I have been told many times that I take too long on calls, simply because I want to both fix the caller's problem and educate them about what they can do to keep this problem from happening again.  At the same time, I have been told many times that I am the 'best' tech the caller has had, since I have taken the time to explain things to them.  I hope this site will help you to understand the risks you take by connecting to the Internet, and what you can do to try to correct problems  that may crop up.  More importantly, I hope that you will learn what you can do to reduce the chances of getting the problem in the first place. 

I do not have a stake in any of the companies, products or sites that I discuss here, and the observations about various programs are from my own personal experience. If I am saying things about a program that you disagree with, I welcome you to join the mailing list and add your views. I am doing my best to present a balanced view of things, but am aware that because it is only my experience, there are other views that are not the same as mine.