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Look - don't Listen - How to fix any problem!

When I first read an article called "Look Don't Listen", I thought that it was too obvious, and just basic common sense, that everyone knows. However, when I put it into practice, I found that it is a real skill which has to be learned and applied.

Observing what is really there, observing what is obvious and not taking anything for granted or making any assumptions, will save you time and can prevent costly errors. If you are an IT Administrator you might have experienced what I mean, while trying to help one of your users.

To give you a better idea of what I am talking about and which way this article is heading, allow me to tell you a story, a real instance, which happened a few weeks ago.

I got a call from one of our clients who had a problem with a printer. The printer wouldn't print anymore and the user came up with the idea of reformatting the hard drive and re-installing Windows and all other applications (probably nothing you would consider). As I needed to see them anyway I got them to wait "fixing the problem" until my arrival.

As I had adapted for life this little sentence "Look Don't Listen", I just started to look. Is the computer turned on? - OK. Is the printer turned on? - OK. Is paper in the printer? - OK. It almost sounds too easy, as the next step already showed the problem and was fixed within a second. You may not believe this, but it really happened. Is the printer connected to the PC? - NO!!

The printer was not connected to the PC. That was all that was wrong and after plugging the printers USB connection into the USB port of the PC, printing was no longer a problem. For the user and the other staff around it looked like a miracle and nobody could believe that the printer was not connected to the PC. But nobody had checked that before, you see what I mean?

Look Don't Listen! Observe the obvious. Like a pilot, you could write yourself a checklist, which you can follow in order to locate and handle any problem or situation. Start with the obvious. Has the PC got power? Is the PC switched on? Things like that take only seconds and can save you hours.

Unfortunately when it comes to fixing a computer hardware problem most tasks are not as obvious. You can't look into a memory chip or you can't look into a graphics card or the processor. Those inabilities of the human perceptions can make these tasks more difficult and will lead, at least in many cases, to assumptions and actions of trial and error. Take the RAM out and replace it. If it works fine, great, if not try something else. This approach is very time consuming and may not find all of the PCs problems in one go.

It would be great if we could get a special type of glasses, which allowed you to look into the computer's hardware - if only they existed! To get an aid which enables you to see and find exactly what is wrong with the machine. Something like 'X-Ray specs' for PC hardware would probably be of help.

Luckily for us though, there is help of this kind available and I wouldn't want to be without it anymore. The "glasses" and X-Ray for fixing your computer or even to validate a new build as fully functional is called  "Micro-Scope". As the name already implies it provides you with in-depth information about your computers hardware. MicroScope or its bigger brother  Universal Toolkit, have been developed to do exactly that for you - to help you to look into your hardware and end the guessing game. Do yourself a favour - Look Don't Listen! Use the Toolkit and start saving your valuable time and money.

Karlheinz Schneider
The Virtual Workforce Company Ltd.

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