Being a Geek is both a Blessing and a Curse. It's problematic because you're a resource to the non-digerati. Heraclitus said You can't step into the same river twice, and computers are the same way. You can't touch the same computer twice; the second time you approach it, you're working on the computer you broke last time, whether or not you actually broke it.


My personal expertise is just PCs. It's a narrow niche that's becoming smaller. I don't know an X-Box from a PlayStation. I wouldn't be of any use with a motion-sensing Kinect. But I grok PCs.
It's cool to be able to offer friends and family Christmas tech support. It's sort of a chance to be a hero; you can be The Geek That Saved Christmas. In the spirit of giving, I'd like to share the Geek Secrets of Christmas Tech Support. Here's the short version:
- First do no harm.
(Don't break anything else while you're trying to fix the initial gremlin.) - Turn it off, turn off the power, leave the room.
- come back, turn on the power, turn it on.
If you'd prefer a more detailed version, XKCD offers this process flow-chart:


Finally, I'd like to suggest this link to http://www.teachparentstech.org/, which is a Google project designed to send computer instructions to the non-geeks in your family. Ho Ho Ho.
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