Welcome to End-User Blues!

Hi folks, my name's Matt. I grew up with computers (since the TI99) and I've been an IT thug professional since 2000.

Before we continue, let's go over the ground rules. I know, I know, rules are annoying- bear with me:

1. I'm pretty knowledgeable, but no one can know absolutely everything. That said, if you disagree with my opinion, tell me why. More often than not there are multiple solutions to a given problem, and unlike your stereotypical IT guy, I'm not above admitting that I didn't know something. However, be ready to back up your opinion and for the possibility that I might not agree.
   
2. Be polite. I reserve the right to delete any comments that are foul-mouthed or put disagreement second to personal attacks. I don't really have a problem with that kind of thing outside of work, but I'm going for a happy medium between informal and professional, casual yet work-safe. Spammers and people who use offensive/abusive language in comments or email will be ban-hammered.
3. Questions, comments, or suggestions? I'll fill in the first one for you- I need a new blog template ;-) Beyond that, feel free to email me at enduserblues@yahoo.com.
   
4. PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE BEGINNING ANY PROCEDURE. It is incredibly easy to muck up your Windows installation by jumping headlong into something without reading all of the instructions first- trust me on this.
5. AOL customers- Other than how to get AIM running on Trillian or Pidgin, I won't be handling AOL issues. In my opinion, the only decent AOL product is their Instant Messenger, and that's mainly because of its huge user base. If you use AOL as your internet service provider, my first piece of advice will be to switch to someone else.
6. Lastly, and most importantly, in this day and age of sue-over-anything, I have to issue the standard legal disclaimer: "Use my advice at your own risk- I provide no guarantee or warranty of any sort, and hereby disclaim myself of any responsibility (legal or otherwise) as a result of you using any information I provide." In other words, I'll do my best to help if something goes wrong, but you use this info at your own risk.

Good. Now that's done and over with, we can get to the good stuff.