Software Solutions

Problems with software are usually caused because the user is thick (deliberately or otherwise) or doesn't properly read what is on the screen.

If you have a need to activate a piece of software over the Internet (pretty much the norm these days) and it asks you for a piece of information that you don't have, please tell the software you don't have it, otherwise it'll constantly badger you for something you don't have. The back button is your friend. Surprisingly the problem is solved if you click the Back button and click the "I do not have a client number" option followed by Next. Some people wouldn't get it if it came in a large bag marked "It".

Complaints of "faulty software" are common. Very rarely is a problem caused by the software, for what most people use it for anyway, and 99.9% of all computer problems exist between keyboard and chair. The other 0.1% of problems occur because the computer gets bored waiting for Joe The Plumber to figure out what on earth they want to get done today.

Microsoft Office tends to make matters worse with some people. Word is easy; load it up and start typing. Excel tends to stop people in their tracks until they think of it as a big fancy calculator. Powerpoint makes people think they have a flair for design and talent (which they don't), Publisher is the best thing since sliced bread (until they take their file to work and find out their Publisher 2007 file won't work in Publisher 2003) and Access is the only Office program that everybody asks, "can you show me how to use Access?".