Why do PC users lie to the tech people?
Apparently you have to interact a bit to get the Navidad virus and “All I did was delete the email saying not to open Navidad” (which you got a couple of days AFTER you downloaded navidad…)
Are they embarassed? Do they think it makes them look stupid? Do they think I am stupid? (quiet, aha)
I know they did it, and they know that I know…maybe I’ll take the job in Saudi Arabia. 
What would be the point is saying, “Hey Mr. sharp tooth, I was stupid and I need help.” when I can just as easy say, “I don’t understand how this happened. I didn’t do nuttin.” either way, upi know i am stupid. I just don’r have to admit it to myself for a little longer…
When I did support for Compaq Presarios about 5 years ago they put this application called Launchpad on all the computers which was a real pain in the ass. When you first started it up it would ask you to enter a password that you would use to get out of it, then once you were in you couldn’t use the computer for anything but the most basic functions (it was for when you wanted to let your young children play on the computer without messing it up). People were constantly getting stuck in it - they would restart the computer, but it would boot back into Launchpad.
The customer would call up and we would tell them to enter the password they entered when they first started it. Invariably it was ‘I didn’t enter any password’. Half the time they didn’t even admit to clicking on Launchpad at all, it just went in there on it’s own. We’d give them the option of running a Quickrestore (which formats the HD and reinstalls the original software) but a lot of the time they wouldn’t want to do that because they had already installed stuff on the computer or had personal files. If they didn’t want to do that, we would transfer them over to the credit card authorization number to bill them $35 for support, then have them restart in safe mode and look at the launchpd.ini file for the password. Sure enough, it was their dogs name or ‘password’ or something like that. $35 for 5 minutes work - but on the bright side it taught them to be very careful about their passwords.
I think users lie for 3 main reasons:
1.** They do not wish to admit doing something stupid. **This is the classic: “I never opened the attachment.” lie.
-
They lie out of ignorance. This can occur when they think they are answering your question truthfully but in fact did not really understand the question you were asking in the first place. I.E.:
Tech Support Person: “Have you installed any new hardware or software recently?”
User: “No”
…10 minutes later… User: “It all seemed to happen after my nephew reinstalled Windows 95.”
–To the user, the reinstallation of Windows 95 does not count as installing new software because it is the same OS they had before the reinstallation. -
They lie because they are not really listening to you and they absentmindedly answer “Yes” or “No” to questions without really thinking about them. I.E.:
Tech Support Person: “Did you recently change your password?”
User: <also watching TV, reading, etc. while on the phone with tech support> “No”
…10 minutes later…User: “Well, when I changed my password yesterday…”
cause its cheaper & hey, they might get their computer done for free.
Actually, I was speaking of on site tech help. Me and my in house users.