tech support

I did some tech support last weekend. An older gentleman I know. He asked me if I could look at his laptop. He described it as the screen wasn't coming up.

Since it was a laptop he just brought it by my place as I have a small monitor to attempt hook up and I have my own wired internet so I could keep this PC open and Google stuff if I needed to.

When he dropped by it was a bit better. Windows was starting and the display was coming up ok. It turns out the issue was he couldn't get to his Yahoo email.

I got him to show me how he gets to Yahoo. It was interesting. His start page was Google. He starts Internet Explorer, then types "yahoo" into the top right Bing search bar. The first search result is of course Yahoo. It was smart enough to point to Yahoo Canada.

So then he clicks the Yahoo link and Yahoo comes up. And from there he was stuck and couldn't get to his Yahoo email. Unfortunately he wasn't logged in any more and the login link was over to the right and he couldn't see it.

So I did a few fixes. I changed the IE start page to ca.my.yahoo.com so Yahoo will just come right up now. I also showed him the login link and after he logged in I set the keep me logged in link. From there he couldn't find the email link it was off to the right. I showed him where it was.

Finally to improve laptop usability I showed him how to maximize the window to full screen size. Also how to use "Control +" to increase the font size to improve readability.

All in all it went pretty well and it was nice to have an easy fix and better setup. It is interesting at times watching and listening to regular users describe their experience with computers and technology.

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Interesting email exchange this evening. I had two blinds that I was going to throw away. They were in my apartment when I moved in and I had replaced them with brand new blinds. Instead I posted them free on kijiji. Not much interest and this evening this lady said she wanted both of them. I said fine and said where I was when she asked - the address was also on the kijiji post. Anyway then she said she doesn't want to go here and could I deliver.

I politely declined. Delivery is rare in kijiji as the seller is taking a big risk of no show. Plus since it's free I'm not even making any money on this and will lose money if I have to travel.

Well I thought that was the end of it but she just replied again and says she doesn't like this neighbourhood and can meet at Halifax Shopping Centre. hmmm I wasn't really planning to go there any time soon so it's not really on the way. I suppose I could drop by on the way to the bridge some time. There's nothing wrong with Clayton Park West. She must have some bad history around here for some reason. I'll have to think about this.