Become a Computer Expert

Ever wanted to be the person that someone turns to when their computer is on the blink? Maybe you just fancy showing off your computer skills to friends and relatives?

Take a computer course. People are more likely to listen to someone who has a recognised qualification under their name. Even if it's just passing their GCSE I.T! Make sure you have a computer. Or better still an old one so you can try different things. Try experimenting with a Linux CD as the regular use of command lines will sure to increase your computer knowledge fast! Be prepared to fix. Every time your computer goes wrong, resign yourself to fixing it yourself. You have the Internet now and visiting tech support forums will allow you to communicate with others who have had the same problem. Don't be afraid of your computer! What have you got to lose by tinkering with that registry if your computer is already in an unusable state? You could save yourself the trouble of re-installing Windows. When fixing other people's computers, be sure to bring a flash drive with the following: AVG free setup file (in case they have no anti virus), CCleaner, Auslogics Disk Defrag setup file and FireFox or Opera (to introduce them to the alternative). You can use these programs to free up space, disable start up programs which might cause conflicts and search and destroy viruses. You can also leave them on the computer if they are unprotected. Read tech support forums to recognise the symptoms of well known problems. For example a slow and unresponsive PC could indicate a virus and failure to boot into Windows could be a driver problem.

Become a member of TechSupportGuy.org. Be sure to reply to as many problems with a solution as possible. Make sure you have a Windows CD in case you can't fix the problem and need to start from scratch and make sure you can use it. Remember these useful tools to access behind the scenes of Windows XP and Vista; msconfig and services. Type into the start and run bar

Make sure you're not going to make any computer problem worse by having some knowledge of it before you fix your neighbors PC. Don't fiddle with settings on a perfectly working family computer. Have an old 128mb RAM basic tower that your friends scrapped years ago to do that with! Then mess around until your heart is content!

Things You'll Need:

* A second basic computer for backup and testing things with
* Computer knowledge
* A flash drive with essential tools
* A decent search engine