Post your most valuable computer knowledge here. Besides "ask Anandtech"

[Gatsby]

Chop off the hands of anyone not deemed worth of a computer

Gatsby

 

[CinderElmo]

If someone in your family or a friend asks you to look at their old win3.11/486/pentium 60/etc POS computer because it is "acting funny" run away as fast as you can! No good can ever come from working with that old crap...and it will suck your time away and you usually end up replacing enough to have built a new computer from the start.

If it is that old, I just say "that stuff is so old it ain't even worth looking at, and besides it was before MY time so I can't really be of help." If it ain't running win95 at the very least I know it is trouble...and since it is family/friend you know what you will get paid even if you do fix it -- JACK SQUAT.

Oh yeah, and if family/friends DO ask you to get parts for them...hide the receipt and just charge them more for it. You will thank yourself, and I consider it a justified fee for the "free" service!
It helps eliminate that "ripped off" feeling you sometimes get when working for people who don't consider your service valuable since they "know you." I haven't run into anyone like that but have heard horror stories on that subject.

Are you writing a book or something qacwac?

 

[Wangel]

Check the real basic stuff first. Power cord, 110/220 switch, network plugs, lose connectors.

I remember spending about a day on a intermittant video problem. The customer kept complaining that his video messed up, but when I had it in my shop sometimes it wouldn't. Turns out the lid to the computer was rubbing a video circuit on the motherboard when the customer had his computer wedged between in his desk. It was a tough one!

 

[sd]

I tell people new to computers to get one with good 24/7 tech support, and to spend as much as you can afford

 

[qacwac]

I wouldn't call it a book, though I may copy the good ones into a word document. Basic stuff that I could give to a friend (or use myself) or family who is maybe just getting into computers. Don't know how pertinent some of this stuff will be though.

But everything helps.

I'll give another of mine.

If you've got high enough resolution make the taskbar twice as tall (thick, whatever) as it is normally set to. Then put your shortcuts in it instead of on your desktop. Much cleaner and easier to access since it takes up less room and is at the bottom.

 

Being able to win at almost any X vs. Y debate due to my vast knowledge of every facet of the IT industry.

 

[ArkAoss]

run from old equipment, run from family and friends, and have some one with money to run to if your system breaks, back up big dl's too it bites to loose 2 gigs worth of office 2k, or 3 gigs worth of uh hi quality instrucitonal videos, uh yeah they were insturcitonal (yeah 3 gigs, i love cable leave my sys on over night and come back to 9 gb worth of free os'es big proggys and stuff ahh the memories *drooollll (homer simpson faze out sequence