When the family gets together at Christmas, it can often happen that you are asked to solve technical problems for your relatives. With our 4 tips you can get through the holidays as stress-free as possible.
It’s getting colder outside and it’s time for family. So you’re looking forward to a delicious Christmas dinner and hoping for great presents. But the holidays are often the time when relatives besiege you with their technical problems. In some cases, the online community can also help you with technical difficulties.
So that your holiday spirit doesn’t sink into technology frustration, we have 4 helpful tips for you. With our advice, you can respond calmly to the family’s cries for help and save your relatives’ devices with your IT support.
1. What is the best way to proceed? – The right approach
What is the best response to a spontaneous question for help? If you are asked to look into a problem at short notice, you should initially remain calm. Even if you have answered certain questions 100 times and the other person is ignorance personified. After all, it is Christmas and at this time you want to avoid unnecessary stress.
To keep IT support to a minimum between Christmas dinner and dessert, you can agree to only fix the most important problem and postpone other questions and troubleshooting until a later date. This also means you can stay focused on a single problem and quickly get back to more Christmas-related things.
How can the right choice of words help? There are countless technical terms and foreign words related to IT that are unfamiliar to those with less technical knowledge. To make it easier for a family member in technical difficulty to describe their problem, it is often helpful to use simple and understandable terms instead of using technical IT vocabulary.
The relatives will thank you and will be able to better answer questions to isolate a problem. This saves the nerves of everyone involved.
2. Simple but often effective – reboot and updates
Why should the affected device be restarted first? Some problems can be solved by restarting the operating software. Regardless of whether it is a Windows computer or a cell phone, minor errors can be fixed in this way.
These include, for example, programs that do not start or slow updates that can slow down the system. A restart will reload all programs and background services. This method can be incredibly effective and the person you are talking to will be happy about the quick help.
How useful are updates when solving problems? In general, it is always advisable to keep your system up to date. Software developers regularly fix small errors and quirks in their products through updates. In addition to fixing errors, stability is often increased, which results in fewer program crashes.
Ideally, you activate the automatic installation of updates for programs and operating software. The updates are then loaded in the background and installed at the latest when you restart. At the same time, you minimize the number of messages that pop up indicating an update that needs to be installed.
Less technically savvy users sometimes have the problem of not being able to distinguish between update requests and actual error messages. With this measure you will definitely accommodate them.
3. Better safe than sorry – data backup and virus scan
Why is a backup helpful when troubleshooting? Not every problem can be solved in a simple way like restarting or installing an update. Sometimes the cause lies deeper in the system. And if you don’t plan on completely reinstalling and setting up the affected device, a backup can be worth its weight in gold.
But even if you make changes and it works even less than before, you’ll be on the safe side if you back up at least the most important data. Provided the backup is current. This way you can then reverse a wrong decision when troubleshooting.
In general, backing up photos and other irreplaceable files can keep individual family members happy if a device breaks down completely.
What does used storage space have to do with it? Before backing up your data, it is also a good idea to free up storage space. But only delete files that you are sure will no longer be needed. Some operating programs offer a filtered cleaning of system folders, for example to delete temporary files.
If in doubt, go through the download folder file by file with the device owner. There are certain programs that you should definitely delete. In addition, not enough free space can also cause problems. Some errors are due to low system memory.
So you may be killing two birds with one stone. The search for viruses on the affected device can also be accelerated because fewer files have to be scanned.
What can a virus scan do? Malware on a system can have different consequences. Computers with a Windows operating system are particularly affected. Viruses and Trojans can partially affect a device unnoticed or lead to a complete system failure.
So make sure that an antivirus program is installed if it makes sense for the respective device platform and if it allows it. The best thing to do is to set up a regular virus scan that quarantines potential pests. This means that files that have been accidentally moved can be released again later.
4. Support beyond the holidays – install remote access tool
How can you provide detailed help without being on site? In order not to spend most of your time dealing with a long list of problems on your next visit, it is a good idea to install a remote maintenance program. In addition to being used on computers, such tools are now available for cell phones and other mobile devices.
Once installed and set up accordingly, you can easily switch to the family’s devices and check that everything is going well. Of course, errors can also be solved just by talking to you on the phone. But in some situations it is beneficial to see a problem firsthand.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with combining remote access with a clarifying telephone call. In the case of a user who calls her support department twice a month about her mouse, this would certainly have led to a solution more quickly.
This makes it practical to apply our previous tips. This means you can also fix one or two errors from home. Your remote IT support can prevent new potential problems.
These are our 4 tips to save your nerves during Christmas IT support. Do you have any other tips in mind to follow? Then feel free to write us in the comments.
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