Reading between the lines

Email has become an integral part of our lives. It’s like your cell phone. Ten years ago a cell phone was a nifty gadget, now we can’t do without it - so too with email. My theory is that the ‘techies’ and ‘IT’ people who secretly run the world have come together to create their own language specifically designed to confuse the rest of us. However we’re on to them.

The simple answer is READ. When you get an error message don’t despair and automatically hit the speed dial to your IT technician (or even Matrix Designs). The answer lies somewhere between the error numbers, words and codes. The ‘techies’ hide the true message amidst the other seemingly unimportant mumbo jumbo just for fun.

Some examples of ‘problems’…your message keeps getting returned with an error. In between all the technical language it says “invalid email address” or “this user is not found” You can understand that one can’t you? When people call and say “I’m not getting my mail” and we ask “did anything on your machine change?” We can’t take ‘No’ for an answer. Very often further questioning reveals that someone, (usually an IT person) somewhere has changed something on the computer. Perhaps software was updated and when reinstalling an error was made in the setup. The error message will tell us the problem.

When you get an error message READ IT!!!! I cannot stress this point enough.
You may be able to determine the problem and find a solution quickly. Once you’ve figured out a possible cause and it’s outside your scope, you will know the correct person to call. I mention this because many times we get calls when the problem is not related to us, but in our efforts to provide great service to our clients we’ll still try to help.

When I came into this business I was just as guilty in calling the “techy” when an error appeared, without even looking at it. I was being indulged because the “techy” happened to be my husband but his first question was always “what does the error message say!!!!” Over and over and over, now I’ve been brainwashed.

Some of you may feel that you don’t have the time to spend trying to figure it out and in any case what do we have IT people for? Well the reality is that you need to spend the time to just READ the message. Having an idea about the error will help the person you’ve called and save you time and frustration in the long run. You can’t do without your email, but spending 3 minutes reading an error message may help you get your mail up and running in minutes instead of hours and repeated phone calls to several different people.

Computers are machines, not mystical and magical entities although sometimes they do seem to have a mind of their own. Take your rightful place – at the control.

Written by Ruth Jeary, Manager of Matrix Designs. This article was written by Ruth Jeary, Manager of Matrix Designs and appeared in the 9th March 2005 issue of the Express.