… yet!

Do not worry though, your time to comment will come soon…

Mind you, no post doesn’t mean I don’t need your feedback right now. I’m indeed currently doing a bit of research before officially releasing a new blog article I’ll entitle “7 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Buying A Computer”.

Your help would definitely be welcome here.

How?

Have you ever searched the web for computer purchase tips which could help you satisfy your sometimes quite urgent buying needs? After hitting a few results, you’re bound to realize the pieces of advice you’ll come accross do considerably vary in size and scope. Some are clearly vendor-oriented, other are way too full of technical gibberish, while other still seem to ignore the vast majority of computer users don’t need high end workstations to send a couple of emails each day.

On the other hand, I’m sure many of you are really truly satisfied with the computer they’re using to read this post, and are ready to tell the world which steps they’ve followed before buying their computer(s).

But if sound advice and well-informed decisions already abound, who am I then to pretend I’ll be able to come up with the all-round computer purchase checklist, the one that will make any and all other piece of advice obsolete?

Here is the trick: I have no intention whatsoever to release the ultimate buying list.
Never ever.

Neither do I want to make other checklists obsolete. Some people are satisfied enough with these to base their purchasing decisions on their advice each and everyday.

Easy and free says my sub-headline.
Means we’re not all rocket scientists and would definitely care for a bit of easy-to-understand piece of advice.
An easy-to-read - easy-to-apply digest is thus key here.

A 7-Questions Digest of your computer purchase questions and habits indeed.

Would you then mind start sharing your computer purchase questions and habits in a reply to this message?

When your replies will have reached a decent amount, I’ll merge them with the very own piece of advice I’m currently giving to some of my family members for my mother-in-law’s birthday gift. This will then be turned into a post which will be prominently displayed on my blog’s front page. If you agree, your name and blog address might even be included in that post, but if you prefer to stay anonymous, just say so, your wish is my command.

Needless to say I’ll be using whatever social bookmarking / sharing / publishing tool I may be aware of to request heap loads of comments and make the Whole Wide Web know I’ve set sail towards the World’s #1 Computer Buying Guide. This process will be repeated for as long as people care to answer, something I’m convinced can last for quite a long while.

Thanks to all my mentors, I have tons of ideas on how to monetize such a venture :
- Each of the 7 Questions becomes a post of its own.
- Video and audio messages are added to the posts with testimonials and hands on.
- Each of the 7 Questions grows enough to become a full-fledged method.
- Select excerpts are turned into newsletters contents.
- Seminars are developed around the 7-Questions process.
- …

Are you in with me?
Shoot, fire, aim!

Thanks for your help and have fun with your computer!

Just a small recap, in case one of my readers would be familiar with such a computer support issue.

This happens to our PC, a plain vanilla HP computer, running Windows XP SP2, nothing fancy on it, just a regular configuration, save maybe for the separate sessions for each family member. The crash can occur almost any time (talk about feeling insecure!):

• Just after my wife has launched the Firefox browser and opened a few tabs,
• When my daughter is right in the midst of a MSN chat session,
• While my son has almost finished watching a Naruto video on Dailymotion,
• Or when I’m plain checking my Google mail.

I’ve checked the whole hardware at least three times, taken every piece apart, made sure every plug was correctly connected, starting from the electrical cord down to the processor pins (am I not supposed to be an experienced tech support guy, after all?) I then cleaned up the whole operating system, uninstalled obsolete games, made sure there were no exotic add-ons left, ran three different tools to make sure there were no virus, or adware/spyware hidden deep inside it, optimized the registry as well as the network and display settings… To no avail.

Sometimes the screen just plain freezes, but more often than not, it just goes blank (I should rather say “it just goes black”), all we’re left doing afterwards is switch it off, wait till it accepts to boot, and start anew. Further than that, everything seems to be perfectly normal. A tech support guy at one of our local stores told me the processor might be the culprit. Well, yes, maybe… Maybe it’s the power supply that’s slowly dying… I don’t know. What I know for sure is the time has definitely come to put an end to this!

I don’t do miracles when it comes to solving such issues, but I believe this is the perfect opportunity for me to start sharing with you in real time the pains I’ll be going through to definitely solve this problem. All I’ll be doing over the course of the next days, weeks, months (years, who knows?) to find the answer to our current PC troubles will be recorded and posted to this blog. You’ll follow my steps while I apply a few basic computer support principles I’ve learned over the course of the last twenty years, which will hopefully lead me to success:

• You’ll discover how I take our computer apart (something you may do too),
• You’ll see me run my favorite software tools (never expensive, always efficient),
• You’ll go and scout the web with me while searching for explanations (in non-technical forums, the others one are just too complicated),
• You’ll watch me trying to apply your very own support tips and tricks,
• You’ll get a chance to answer my “Yahoo! Answers” postings,

… and much more!

Stay tuned for the first video… and have fun with your computer!

Although I’m bringing over twenty years experience of computer support to this blog, I had never thought I could try to make a different type of living out of my technical knowledge. It’s only when I started to apply the very first steps of Mike Antoni’s BOA Method that I had one of those ah-ha moments suddenly dawned on me. It was indeed something like… “Since:

• I know computers inside out…
• Whatever the computer trouble may be, solutions come fast and easy to me…
• I know how to effortlessly teach others how to make a better and smoother use of their Mac or PC…
• There is obviously a thing or two I might share with you to make your computer usage an enjoyable experience…

Why not give it a try?”

My recent Wordtracker, Google and Clickbank queries all confirmed Computer Support is quite in demand these days. A single Google search for the “computer support” keywords on the Internet led me to the discovery of tons of great support resources that are readily already available for you to use on the web… granted, some of them don’t seem to be really active nowadays, but this doesn’t mean their contents can no longer be applied to your current needs and wants.

My objective here then is to deliver original content that will help you make the best out of your daily computer experience. I’ll also scout the web to select those resources I feel could bring major benefit to your computer use. You should expect at least three or four posts per week, where I’ll come and introduce you to basic and important computer-related topics. Further than that, I’ll produce regular digests of select articles which I feel are worth spreading through this blog. There are also quite a few (e)books, software and hardware which have proved their usefulness over time. Expect then a healthy dose of reviews to be published here too. Last but not least, I might offer you from time to time special deals on select products. True to my creed, only those I do consider to be the best and most useful ones for your everyday needs will be introduced here.

By the way, it is mentioned in this blog’s header that my purpose is to help you learn how to use and support your computer in an easy and free way. Should you ever feel the tips and tricks I’m posting here are either too complicated or not relevant, don’t hesitate to tell me how I might improve upon my postings. I’m here to help you and would like to make sure this blog truly corresponds to your needs. Come back regularly or better yet, subscribe to my newsletter, and if you liked it, tell your friends and loved ones about it. Comment on the posts. Tell me what you’d like me to address in this blog. Are there any specific topics you’d like me to write about? Are there any resources you’re looking for?

I’ll be waiting for your answers and suggestions.

Talk to you soon and… have fun with your computer!

Jean-Marie