How far will you go to fix things on your own? Are you the type that gives up pretty quickly and simply says, " I'll get someone that knows how to fix this", or are you the type that says, " I'll get back to this later" and simply lower the priority of the repair?
I think this is a question all should be asking BEFORE THEY GO TO THE CONTROL PANEL in their computer! In fact this is one area that should have been locked up solid when Vista came out but no such luck (at least not through normal default installations). I think the fact you are prompted "are you sure?" when you press the delete key is a fair enough prompt as you are being asked "do you or don't you want to delete?" and since you know this means 'to keep something or to lose it forever', it shouldn't be too difficult, but what if you have manipulated this in a way (through the control panel) to use 'single clicks' and to turn off prompts, etc, now what do you do? Well I suggest you take advantage of online backup system like carbonite for one, since you can immediately retrieve what you just deleted, but more then that, you should have stopped to think before you even got in to the delete mode.
But before I continue to go off-track of what the important issue I was trying to convey here, which is how computer literate you feel you are. Then compare yourself to those around you, those that you work with or associate with on a regular basis, now how do you match up? Odds are if you put yourself in a room with 10 other people with about the same amount of literacy (when it comes computer knowledge/skill) and were given a problem to fix a number of you would have the correct method of fixing whereas a few may be able to fix the problem but by going about it a little differently (one in which may have caused other security risks to now occur for example), and I am sure a few would not be able to solve it but with the joint effort of the others that couldn't figure it out, you may be able to solve the problem, again quite possibly in the round-about method. This is exactly what I see on a daily basis... a computer that has been fixed by the grandson and his friend, or one that has had some technician fix a major problem but not truly solving all of the issues due to other software issues (or quite often the bug in the program was never fixed but masked by some other program and only discovered when that program was removed).
I guess you could say my own pride, when it comes to maps and getting lost, would have me probably one of the last to ask for directions and that goes with problem solving.. until I get myself in to water much too deep that I know there would be no turning back, I would stop at that point. This is important.. to know when to stop and get help. This is another reason why I try and try to point out that I am an email message away or you can contact me via the web (or phone call if you are an existing client and obviously can't get through using email due to your computer not working) . Don't wait until you know you have a problem, in fact you shouldn't be waiting until you 'think' you have a problem. If you know it has been some time since you have had anything really 'fixed' on your computer (this includes thorough software screening/scanning and updating due to the major amount of new versions of software applications that are available), you should be contacting your computer technician!
I really can't believe the difference in overall client satisfaction that I see first-hand, between computer that hits my bench 'dead' and the one that is in for 'routine maintenance and cleaning'. The latter computer's owner is always less frustrated simply because they knew when to stop and ask!
One more tip would be to read my TIPS, especially the OPTIMIZING one since this is always updated due to the changing nature of the computer industry.
