They can have technical backgrounds or have just used computers longer. They are the friends and family that people often turn to when there's a computer problem.
By DAVE GUSSOW
Published September 29, 2003
Wendy Johnson spent six hours recently cleaning up the littered hard drive on her mother-in-law's computer. Then she laid down the law.
"I'm basically forbidding my mother-in-law from opening e-mail with attachments," said Johnson, 43, of St. Pete Beach.
Over the past 20 years, Johnson has held a number of jobs, including accountant, consultant and software sales, that had her dealing with computers, software and networks.
"I'm not a great tech person," Johnson said. "I just know a little bit about this, that or other."
That means she's the unofficial tech support for family, friends, even her pastor.
"I end up volunteering because I feel so bad for people that their computers get mucked up," said Johnson, co-director of Motion Sports Management, which manages races and does personal coaching for athletes.
Service and reliability always have been a problem for the tech industry. Surveys show the situation getting worse, not better. And consumers looking for tech support find frustration more often than help.
Glitches, jargon and impenetrable "help" functions are just part of the problem. Many tech companies trimmed support staff when the economy and their bottom lines shrank, even as lower prices lured more newcomers into buying their first computers.
Filling the support void are friends and relatives such as Johnson. Some work in the technology field, while others are self-taught. Call them the Neighborhood Watch of tech support.
"These are people that like to solve problems," said Dave Dockery, 55, of Palm Harbor, who organizes free Random Acts of Kindness computer repair clinics with volunteers from the Tampa Bay Computer Society.
The volunteers hear long, sad tales of woe from frustrated computer users. Dockery remembers a woman who brought in a computer with three layers of icons plastered on the desktop screen and thousands of viruses. "It was like an archaeological dig," Dockery said.
Others spent hundreds of dollars at repair shops for fixes that didn't work, left their computers unplugged because they were too intimidated to seek help or simply let problems build until the computer barely worked.
Some people don't like to wait on hold for tech support from computer companies or don't want to spend money on advice over the phone that's sometimes read from a script.
And tech support fees can add up, whether it's online, by phone or at a repair shop. Some online tech support services charge $35 and up for annual subscriptions. Others may charge $2.95 a minute for calls or flat fees starting at about $30. Repair shops often start at $40 to $50.
Most of the Tampa Bay Computer Society's volunteers know their limits. Dockery, for example, is a computer consultant, trainer and Web designer but doesn't care to do hardware troubleshooting. But there's always someone to pick up the slack.
"They like our bedside manner," Dockery said of those helped by his group. "I've had people say, "It was so nice to have somebody sit with me and take the time to explain to me what was wrong with the computer in words that I could understand.' I thought that was a very cool thing."
Ron Kalmin, 68, of Feather Sound in Pinellas County, is a retired field engineer whose tech experience dates to 1958. "It's a way for me to give something back," Kalmin said. "I have an expertise that's foreign to most people."
Some people are quick learners. Jan Norman, 65, of Clearwater, got her first computer in 1997. "I was really afraid of them," she said, but she had to learn because "there was no one around to help."
Over the years, she picked up enough to help neighbors in her mobile home park and eventually to lead computer group classes.
Starting out, Norman and her neighbors would gather at each other's homes for informal lessons in tasks as simple as creating a folder or placing an icon on the desktop.
"You're always afraid you were going to break it, afraid to delete it, that you would do something wrong," Norman said. "I learned a lot the hard way. Most of the older people, they're afraid they're going to break it. They're not sure what's going to happen, so they play FreeCell."
Norman, who ran a sewing business up North before moving here, picked up some knowledge from early sessions, as well as from her own mistakes. Reformatting the hard drive became a common fix, but she wanted to know more.
So she took a class at the Pinellas Technical Education Center, where she learned, among other things, how to take a computer apart. That helped her overcome her fears.
"It's just an ongoing learning process," she said. "I'm still not an expert by any stretch of the imagination."
So how does one find this neighborly help? Most neighborhood tech volunteers don't publicize their efforts, but word gets out. And almost all have a hard time saying no. Still, some of the volunteers encourage people to join a computer users group, both for help and commiseration.
"What better insurance can you have for $30 a year?" asked Norman, who has been president of the Microcomputer Users Group. "It will always be over your head if you don't get involved with it. Associate with people who use computers. Sometimes they can support one another."
- Information from Times wires was used in this report. Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.
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A free Random Acts of Kindness computer repair clinic will be held at 10 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Tampa Bay Computer Society's resource center, 1510 Barry Road, Clearwater. Registration is required at www.synergypublishing.com
