Do you have a missing Word icon that keeps you from opening your document? Listen and learn as the Tech Woes IT pros solve the mystery of the missing Word icon.
A Missing Word Icon
really won’t keep you from opening a document.
Nevertheless, many people prefer to have an icon on their computer desktop or taskbar. Indeed, it is fairly simple to put an icon on the desktop or taskbar. Once you find the program, right-click and specify Pin to Taskbar or Send to Desktop (create shortcut). Of course, you do need Word (or other document software) to make this work. Since Word is not free software, it is not always preinstalled on new computers.
Following is a transcript
of a person with a document to open and a tech support person. In this case, it appears that the caller is pranking the tech support guy. In the end, tech support guy may have the last laugh. As is my policy, I have changed the names to protect the guilty. Any resemblance to real life situations is purely coincidental. Or is it? Perhaps, it is a little bit of both. I hope you enjoy my goofy attempt at geek humor. I welcome you to express your opinions and share your frustrating experiences in the comments below. If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with others. Thank you for stopping by. Craig Herberg
Unhelpful tech support guy: Technical support. How may we humiliate you?
Unsuspecting tech woes victim: I need help opening a document.
Unhelpful tech support guy: Ok. Click on the Word icon on your desktop.
Unsuspecting tech woes victim: I don’t have a Word icon on my desktop.
Unhelpful tech support guy: No Word icon? What do you have on your desktop?
Unsuspecting tech woes victim: A coffee cup, a newspaper, and a bag of potato chips.
Unhelpful tech support guy: No, no, on your computer desktop.
Unsuspecting tech woes victim: A computer? You have to have a computer?
Unhelpful tech support guy: Say, aren’t you the CIO?
disk space or internal memory (RAM). Also, you could have incompatible hardware. In addition, you could have programs that will not work with Vista. In my opinion, the biggest cause of Vista upgrade problems is a successful installation! By all means read 
To be sure, there are several ways to do this. For instance, you could copy your documents, music, and photos to a thumb drive or external hard drive. Also, you could use backup software to backup your important files or the entire computer to a backup drive. Frequently, people prefer the simplicity of backing up to the cloud. Because I like to easily recover from a crash, I backup my entire computer to an external drive. On the other hand, if you don’t have anything to lose and don’t need easy recovery, you don’t need to backup your computer. Granted, there are not many people who do not need some kind of backup.
people think that tech support has no other customers or priorities. So, if they can’t fix my problem right away, they must be busy playing Madden. Yes, I get your frustration. Yet, I have experienced excellent customer service. Of course, that is the exception to the rule. To be sure, customer service is a function of corporate culture. In short, good leaders hire good employees who provide good service.
s the problem. Of course, a failing disk drive also makes a lot of noise. Also, a loose case screw can really make a racket. In addition, a noisy power supply could be the source. In that case, you may want to replace it with a quieter power supply. Sometimes, you can just move the computer to a place where the sound won’t bother you.
Frequently, the offending program is hiding behind an open window on your screen. In fact, if you simply click on the flashing icon, the program should come out in the open. Other times, the flashing icon is a reminder of an upcoming appointment. Likewise, just click on the icon, to see what it wants. So, as you see, getting rid of this annoyance is usually not difficult.
Perhaps, the message states that the video driver misbehaved. It’s also possible that a corrupt file caused the error. First of all, you should reinstall or update the offending program or driver. If that doesn’t fix it, you may want to check for a virus or corrupt hard drive. Lastly, Windows itself could be corrupted, in which case you may need to reinstall Windows.
First of all, check to see if the power switch is stuck. Next, unplug all of your peripherals, and see if it will boot properly. If not, try to boot into safe mode. Hopefully, you can get into safe mode, and see if system restore fixes the problem. Unfortunately, there are many things that could cause a constantly rebooting computer, including bad memory, hard drive or video card. Finally, I wish you luck.
ourse, tech support guy just wants to get rid of the customer and go home. As is my policy, I have changed the names to protect the guilty. Any resemblance to real life situations is purely coincidental. Or is it? Perhaps, it is a little bit of both. I hope you enjoy my goofy attempt at geek humor. I welcome you to express your opinions and share your frustrating experiences in the comments below. If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with others. Thank you for stopping by. Craig Herberg
once the provider activates the line, all you have to do is connect the DSL modem to the phone line and install DSL filters. To clarify, the filters connect between anything else (i.e., not the DSL modem) that connects to the phone line and the line itself. So, if you have two landline phones and a fax machine, you need three filters. Of course, you do need to connect your computer[s] to the DSL modem, either via Ethernet or wireless. How hard can that be? When the provider does its job, the rest is straightforward. Yet, that is the rub.