A GUIDE TO COMPUTER USER SUPPORT FOR HELP DESK AND SUPPORT SPECIALISTS, FOURTH EDITION focuses on key information and skills for user support professionals, including troubleshooting and problem solving, successful communication with clients, determining a client's specific needs, and training end users. For those considering entering the field, alternate career paths for user-support workers are described. This text continues many of the successful features of previous editions, including Tips, On The Web pointers, Check Your Understanding self-tests, discussion questions, hands-on activities, and case projects. With balanced coverage of both people skills and technical skills, this book is an excellent resource for those in or preparing for the technical-support field. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Digitization of business interactions and processes is advancing full bore. But in many organizations, returns from IT investments are flatlining, even as technology spending has skyrocketed. These challenges call for new levels of IT savvy: the ability of all managers-IT or non-IT-to transform their company's technology assets into operational efficiencies that boost margins. Companies with IT-savvy managers are 20 percent more profitable than their competitors. In IT Savvy, Peter Weill and Jeanne Ross-two of the world's foremost authorities on using IT in business-explain how non-IT executives can acquire this savvy. Concise and practical, the book describes the practices, competencies, and leadership skills non-IT managers need to succeed in the digital economy. You'll discover how to: -Define your firm's operating model-how IT can help you do business -Revamp your IT funding model to support your operating model -Build a digitized platform of business processes, IT systems, and data to execute on the model -Determine IT decision rights -Extract more business value from your IT assets Packed with examples and based on research into eighteen hundred organizations in more than sixty countries, IT Savvy is required reading for non-IT managers seeking to push their company's performance to new heights.

Stand out in one of IT's fastest growing job markets If you're looking for a job in IT, the help desk is the heart and soul of most IT operations, and an excellent starting point for a promising career. With the help of Getting an IT Help Desk Job For Dummies, you'll gain the knowledge and know-how to cut through the confusion of navigating the Information Technology job market. IT can be intimidating to hopeful-yet-inexperienced job candidates, but this guide will help you find and land the job of your dreams. Through easy-to-follow explanations, authoritative information, and a bit of humor, Getting an IT Help Desk Job For Dummies serves as your thorough and approachable guide to maximizing your competitive edge in this booming market. The IT job market has continued to expand as technology matures and deepens its roots in business operations. This is good news for you! However, it makes it that much harder to get a job in IT, as recent grads and other professionals are practically stampeding to get their feet in the door of this rapidly expanding industry. Luckily, Getting an IT Help Desk Job For Dummies gives you an advantage by providing expert instruction on how to score an interview and secure a job offer, the skills needed to obtain and maintain an IT position, and authoritative information on how to establish a career path in the IT field. Explore careers in the IT Help Desk field and establish the path you want to follow Plan for post-education certifications and training to make yourself more marketable Get expert guidance for creating a winning resume and cover letter Prepare for your IT Help Desk interview Loaded with simple, straight-forward advice, Getting an IT Help Desk Job For Dummies is your all-in-one guide to starting your IT career on the right foot!

Interesting, timely, and above all, useful, Savvy Guides give IT managers the information they need to effectively manage their technologists, as well as conscientiously inform business decision makers, in the midst of technological revolution.

The Microcomputer Specialist Passbook(R) prepares you for your test by allowing you to take practice exams in the subjects you need to study. It provides hundreds of questions and answers in the areas that will likely be covered on your upcoming exam.

All of today’s help desk support skills, in one easy-to-understand book The perfect beginner’s guide: No help desk or support experience necessary Covers both “soft” personal skills and “hard” technical skills Explains the changing role of help desk professionals in the modern support center Today, everyone depends on technology–and practically everyone needs help to use it well. Organizations deliver that assistance through help desks. This guide brings together all the knowledge you need to succeed in any help desk or technical support role, prepare for promotion, and succeed with the support-related parts of other IT jobs. Leading technology instructor Darril Gibson tours the modern help desk, explains what modern support professionals really do, and fully covers both of the skill sets you’ll need: technical and personal. In clear and simple language, he discusses everything from troubleshooting specific problems to working with difficult users. You’ll even learn how to manage a help desk, so it works better and delivers more value. Coverage includes: • How the modern help desk has evolved • Understanding your users’ needs, goals, and attitudes • Walking through the typical help desk call • Communicating well: listening actively and asking better questions • Improving interactions and handling difficult situations • Developing positive attitudes, and “owning” the problem • Managing your time and stress • Supporting computers, networks, smartphones, and tablets • Finding the technical product knowledge you need • Protecting the security of your users, information, and devices • Defining, diagnosing, and solving problems, step by step • Writing it up: from incident reports to documentation • Working in teams to meet the goals of the business • Using ITIL to improve the services you provide • Calculating help desk costs, benefits, value, and performance • Taking control of your support career Powerful features make it easier to learn about help desk careers! • Clear introductions describe the big ideas and show how they fit with what you’ve already learned • Specific chapter objectives tell you exactly what you need to learn • Key Terms lists help you identify important terms and a complete Glossary helps you understand them • Author’s Notes and On The Side features help you go deeper into the topic if you want to • Chapter Review tools and activities help you make sure you’ve learned the material Exclusive Mind Mapping activities! • Organize important ideas visually–in your mind, in your words • Learn more, remember more • Understand how different ideas fit together