Men. We think we can fix everything, even if we’ve never had any experience with what we are trying to fix. However, a new survey seems to show that most men, despite believing they can, have absolutely no idea on how to fix computers, or any sort of technology for that matter.The survey was conducted by GMI Research and surveyed 1,0001 willing men and women aged 35 to 70, asking them whether or not they were confident about fixing a computer. Unsurprisingly, 46% of men said that they were either confident or very confident the could fix their computer.
On the other hand, only 27% of women said that they were equally as confident.In addition to that, 68% of men said that they expect their computers to last more than 5 years with 48% stating that they see a slow computer as a money-saving DIY project that they preferred over paying an expert for help. After this information was received, the respondents were given “the classical symptoms of the insufficient memory, such as slowing performance and lockups using common programs”, according to Crucial.com, who sponsored the research.The respondents were given five diagnostic choices: A failed component inside the computer, virus or malware; a program recently added or downloaded or a recent update to the operating system or application; the computer needs more drive storage; or the computer needs more memory.
Only 8% of the men said that the problem sounded like an insufficient memory problem. The two most popular results were “failed component” with 35% and “more drive storage” at 34%. Crucial.com believes that “failed component”, the most popular answer, should have been the least popular.
On the question about memory, the women scored better than men with 9% identifying insufficient memory as the most likely cause. 83% of the respondents said that they would replace their PCs altogether if they became frustrated with it being “slow, broken and out-of-date”.
In addition to that, 27% of women said that they were confident that they could fix their computers but only 11% stated that they would fix their computers “because I know I can”. But just how easy is it to properly diagnose a computer problem from a verbal description of the “problem”?
In my experience, you can describe a problem as detailed as possible but computer experts almost always still desire to physically sit down with the computer and diagnose it. Sure the problem has the potential to be properly diagnosed over the phone or online but for a truly accurate fix, in person is the best. I mean, how accurate are you with describing your car troubles to a mechanic?
Regardless of how well men, myself included, believe we can fix things, it’s generally better to have a certified computer technician work on your computer. If your computer is running slow or you’re having other problems, don’t ask your husband, boyfriend, son or other man in your life to try and fix it, instead ask a professional like the ones at ComputerServiceNow.com.
