Are they trying to get you to sign a 2 year contract? Make sure you read the fine print! For example ? Can you change your rate plan without extending your contract for another 2 years? Most companies will not tell you that you are extending your contract. This is important if you are not sure how many minutes you will be using, or if you need to travel a few months out of the year and switch to that more expensive national plan. Another question is ?Will I roam?? and if so, ?What will I be charged??

If you can afford the phone at the 1-year or no contract price, DO IT! Because I can assure you that 99% of the time your phone will not last you 2 years.

You can purchase phone insurance, which in my opinion seems to be a pretty good deal. If you are accident-prone then $5 to $10 per month will allow you to get the same phone for $50 -$100 if you break or lose your phone. The only catch is you can only file 2 claims a year, and if you lose it or its stolen you must file a police report.(read the fine print)

Microsoft provides plenty of support as you study for your various certifications. The training includes classroom training, self-study kits, computer-based training, online classes, and books, and certification guides. You can take advantage of the way that you learn best. Depending on the career path you have chosen, you will find a certification that matches your skill set. Microsoft plans to, over time, introduce exams that rely on simulations and performance items.

Microsoft has a tool available called AutoRuns for Windows. It works with any version of Windows. It can give you information on what runs automatically at startup, in Internet Explorer, in your Scheduled Tasks, or practically anywhere things startup automatically on your system.

Network bandwidth

These events led me to realize how impersonal the world has become. Text messaging, email and chats seem to cause more problems then they solve. It allows people to dump things on your plate at work and say things that wouldn’t be said in a face to face meeting. I’m probably guilty of doing the same thing. I say things in email all the time I wouldn’t normally say in person. I’ve decided to start a new attitude when it comes to emailing, chatting and texting. I’m going to make sure I only say things that are non-confrontational that I would only say to a person face to face. I think the world will be a happier place if I help set the example.

I have been stuck with my UT Starcom phone for 2 years now, and Verizon is offering me the ?New Every 2?. I of course have to sign a new contract to get the deal. Anybody that knows phones will tell you that the Audiovox model CDM-8910 phone that Verizon sold the crap out of 2 to 3 years ago is quite possibly the worst phone ever made. Settings don?t get stored, you will miss text messages and voice mail notifications if the memory gets close to full (which is often) and the phone is so locked down you can?t even change the banner.

Frustrated I tried to find another phone and learned that I couldn?t just switch to the phone I wanted. I had to wait until my 2 year contract was up, or else pay $300 for a phone that I could get on Ebay for $50. I had thought that SIM card technology had brought us beyond this problem only to learn that Verizon and Alltel sells bastardized versions of brand name phones that don?t have the features other carries have.

Cingular/AT&T and Sprint provides phones with SIM cards. Verizon and Alltell do not. AT&T and Sprint customers can put their SIM card into any phone they want to use anytime. Verizon and Alltell customers however, have to pay more or sign a new contract if they want to switch phones.

Looking over the plans I am becoming even more discouraged. Has anybody taken a look at the free weekends and evenings deal with Verizon? Night Hrs: (M?F) 9:01 p.m.?5:59 a.m.
Wknd Hrs: 12:00 a.m. Sat.?11:59 p.m. Sun. How bogus! Your weekend hours consist of 3 hours on Friday and Saturday basically. The plan used to give you free nights starting at 7:00pm. Alltel still does. AT&T?s weekends plan is similar to Verizon?s with the exception that they give you Saturday as well as Sunday.

Anyway, so I called Sirius and reported the radio stolen. I expected some type of free radio since people that cancel their accounts are regularly offered a free radio to stay with them. The customer service rep referred me to the warranty department, who promptly turned me down. I guess they are going to be out of the money I would be spending with them monthly.

I recently had a debate with a friend of mine about extended warranties. He had purchased one for his big screen television, spending an extra hundred or so dollars in the process. He claimed that because he had to drive the television over a hundred miles, that it was a good idea just in case it got damaged during the long trip. I then asked him “Couldn’t you have had the television delivered by the retailer for the amount you spent on the extended warranty?”. Then we both had a moment of silence.

The truth when it comes to extended warranties is that you likely aren’t going to use it. Why else would retailers sell them to you? It’s as simple as that. They don’t make money by selling you a warranty that will likely be used. In my friends’ case, the chances of his television becoming damaged regardless of who is delivering it are slim to none. If only people knew what products of all kinds go through before they are even delivered to the store. They usually sit in the back of a bouncing truck for much more than 100 miles. Yet most products that arrive to the store are not damaged.

Did you know that in some cases, as much as half of the money you paid for your extended warranty goes to the salesman that sold it to you? That’s why you get the high pressure sales pitch when you’re at the store looking at that $500 laptop. So what does that mean? That means that not even half of the money you spent goes toward the actual company that supports your warranty. Yet they still make a profit.

People still believe in extended warranties though. They remember the 1 or 2 times they didn’t get it and could’ve used it for that car with the bad radio, or the laptop that wouldn’t start. However, chances are that the other 99% of the products you buy, you will not need an extended warranty. The product will either be covered by the manufacturer or will be repairable for less than the price of the extended warranty.

Another defense people have for buying warranties is that they intend on breaking their item on purpose so that they may get a new one. People often do this with wireless phones. Well, that’s fine. Anything that takes money out of the pockets of these companies. As for me, I’d rather not bother giving them any of my money. Most warranty claims are shot down because they either have expired or don’t fall under the warranty. For example most extended warranties on vehicles don’t include covered for the drivetrain. Some extended warranties for laptops don’t even cover a shattered display screen, which is often the most commonly damaged and the most expensive part on a laptop.

It can sometimes be difficult to refuse an extended warranty when dealing with a high pressure salesman that won’t take no for an answer. A method I’ve learned is to act as though you have only the money in your budget and that you were sent to purchase just the item without the warranty by a friend or family member. The salesman then can’t make much of an argument if he feels you aren’t really the one making decisions.

Stop complaining and let me solve your issue

Us people that take support calls, we are problem solvers. We want to solve your problem and get you off the phone. Ok, so your issue has been happening for a while, and you’ve been dealing with other people in my department, I understand that. Can we please get to solving what you called for please? If I can just do that, there will be no reason to complain. I can understand some level of venting, but when it goes on forever it hinders our ability and desire to help you.

Follow our direction and do nothing else

Call, describe your problem and then let us take over. It’s now time for us to direct you now. Click only where we tell you to click and type only when and where we tell you to type. Forget about the screens you were on before or other areas where there was a problem. Bouncing around and doing your own thing will only result in a longer call.

Don’t say that you are a tech

If you are a computer tech yourself and you feel you are going to win points with the tech you are calling by saying “I’m a tech.”, forget about it. Understand that 9 out of 10 people that claim they are “techs” aren’t able to follow the simple direction they are provided. If you truly are a tech, you won’t need to tell me, because I will know just by the way you follow direction. I also know you want to solve the issue now by trying your own things in the middle of what I’m trying to tell you, but please see #2. People that say they are technicians are the #1 violators of rule #2.

Have the error message written down

If there was an error message, please be sure you can recite it to the tech when you call. That way we can search for it in our knowledgebase or on the internet and come up with a quick solution. If you don’t have the exact error message VERBATIM, it helps us very little. Don’t just make up an error message that sounds similar to what you read.

Be in front of the computer when you call

It amazes me how many people call and think that a problem can be troubleshooted while they are on their morning drive miles away from their computer. This should be a no brainer, but I guess people feel they are somehow saving time instead of wasting mine.

I can’t help you in getting compensation

If you want money back because your computer problems are making you suffer, I can’t do anything about it. Seriously! I have no “pull” in that direction, nor do I care to. Take all that up with your salesman or our billing department. We are problem solvers. We solve the technical issue you are having and that is our only function.

No, we don’t know it all

Some people expect all of the answers to their problems right now. They get frustrated when they don’t get them right away. Please understand that things need to be researched and that may take time.We also may give information that is not true from time to time. Again, we don’t know it all and we are human and may slip up from time to time. It doesn’t mean we are stupid or have less knowledge than somebody else.

Before calling support, please try restarting your computer

I hate asking people to restart their computer, but sometimes I have to. Sometimes I don’t even remember to ask until an hour into the call because this should be tried by the user before they even call. Computers malfunction and sometimes just need to be restarted. If that does the trick, then move on. By doing so you avoid wasting our time and your own.

Be sure you are calling the right people

Check to make sure the product you are using is supported by the people you are calling. If you bought a Dell computer loaded Adobe software on it, Dell is not going to help you with it. They know nothing about it. Call Adobe.

Acrobots

Hella-cool magnetic robots. These things can be placed in almost any position.They are also stackable so you can buy a bunch and reenact the high school cheerleading championship or comprimising position of your choice.

The other day I searched for information regarding a Windows Vista Hotfix. I couldn’t find information about it very easily in Google. All it returned on my searches were junk pages. I then realized that Digg had to have something about it since techies troll the site night and day. A simple search for “vista hotfix” yielded me the results I needed. I could also easily see how valued each link was before I clicked also judging from how many diggs each article had.

I then realized this was an example of a new trend. Lately Technipages has been getting quite a few hits from searches on Digg. I spoke with a few other web site owners and they said they have noticed the same trend. The owner of TweakXpert told me that he gets more hits from Digg searches than he does Google searches right now.

I read this blog at GeekSugar about making your own battery pack. GeekSugar seems to be a a techy, geek girl site. I stumbled upon it there, so I am not gay OK? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Back in the day when Alta-Vista was the king of search engines, I would use the search engine only when I had exhausted every other resource. For example, if I wanted to find out how to correctly configure my scanner, I would first try the manual that came with the scanner. Maybe even look at the PDF on the CD. THEN I would look on Alta-Vista.

I recently have realized how much everything has changed. Yesterday I had forgotten how to register a file in Windows. I knew I had this article on my site. Instead of typing in the URL to my own site and browsing for it, I searched Google to get to it.

I’ve recently come to the realization that I will have to upgrade my systems to Windows Vista soon. It won’t be long until that awesome application that I’ve wanted is only supported under Windows Vista. It won’t work under Windows XP simply because the developers made it that way. Software developers could easily create software for Windows 3.1 still if they wanted. They won’t simply because it feeds the perpetual commercial machine.

I think PC’s are getting to the point where you seriously do not require the highest powered PC to get your tasks done. I think that a 2.0GHz processor is plenty of power for me to browse the web, type my documents, and use PhotoShop. I don’t see a need to go with higher end hardware. In fact, my parents have been running fine on a 500MHz machine for 6 years now. no problems! They recently asked me about a new PC with Windows Vista. Why would they need it though? I couldn’t find a good answer.

I guess where I’m getting at is, why are we constantly upgrading our hardware to gain just a few meaningless features such as Aero or popups that warn us with everything we do? Is it really worth the $120+ to upgrade?