In this module, you are to try out and evaluate the new SharePoint system recently made available to Trident students. At this point,
you may or may not have actually tried to access and use it – if you haven’t, it’s high time that you did. Go to Trident’s e-mail login
URL and enter your User ID. If you haven’t received the instructions for logging in and use yet, please contact the Support Group at
Trident right away to obtain them.
If you’ve tried it, you’ll recognize this as the opening screen:
As the project assignment for this module, you are to:
STUDENT ORIENTATION Student Email COURSE NET STUDENT
SERVICES
(SSS)
LOG
OFF
ITM424 – Intro. to Software Use and Tech. Support
Module 5 – SLP
Software Technical Support
The dominance of Microsoft in general and of Windows as an operating system has led to the emergence of an interesting “cottage
industry” based on finding problems with Windows and recommending solutions to them. Some of these problem solvers do fairly straightforward consulting, on a fee for service basis. There are also a goodly number of instances of a rather different business model, a model based on sharing tips and secrets about the systems and applications that are widely used. These sites are generally supported not by direct charges to users, but by serving as portals for advertising, for-pay services, and the like. Some are membership-based, usually free. Collectively, these sites add up to an enormous body of practice wisdom about computer systems.
The problem is that they don’t always add up, and it is not clear just what is being said at times.
For the Case for this Module, you are to research how some of these Windows-supporting advice sites work. A few to start with would
include:
· PC Pitstop
· chami.com-tips
· Kelly’s Korner
· TechTrax
· MajorGeeks.com
· Tek-Tips
· AnswersThatWork.com
· Spriteworks.com
· Annoyances.org
And, of course, the recommended list provided by Gizmo, whom you may remember from last module’s SLP.
You should have no trouble finding some more as well.
Here’s what you do. First, begin by identifying some problem that you are having with your computer — hopefully less than life threatening and more than annoying, if at all possible a problem with a Microsoft product An example might be that the machine is very slow to boot up, that it whirs a lot and doesn’t accomplish anything, and occasionally hangs up instead of completing the reboot process. If there isn’t anything bothering you about your own computer, then congratulate yourself heartily on being one of the luckiest humans on the planet, and find a friend or colleague who has such a problem.
Then, go online to at least three of these or other similar advice sites, and try to get advice about how to solve it. Keep track of the advice you get; but please note: it is NOT part of the project that you should start tinkering around with your machines. We don’t
have that much liability insurance… But we want you to try to determine the degree of consistency of the advice you’re getting from the practitioner community.
Then go to the Microsoft website, navigate to their technical support area, and try to solve your problem there, in the same way.
[NOTE: obviously, this assumes that you’re using a Windows-based computer; Microsoft is notoriously unwilling to provide much technical support for other systems. If you’re using a non-Windows-based system such as a Mac, you should go to the appropriate
company for advice.]
SLP Assignment Expectations
When you’re done with all this, write a short (2-3 page) paper summarizing your experience, including at least:
