The IT department has been something of a necessary evil in companies. Their job is to install some of the gadgets that make our work simpler while installing a whole lot of other things that make it almost impossible for us to do anything that we might want. From blocking off our social commitments to giving us tools that make us work longer hours, simply in a bid to understand how to work with those tools, the IT department constantly faces the wrath in a thankless job.

Imagine going to work every day and being the victim of yelling and abuses because all your safety and security measures make it incredibly hard for someone to use their computers without reading through reams of pages on office technology policies and practices. And then, if one of those measures fail, then there’s all the more shouting and yelling because the company is suddenly losing money because one of your systems, which was being cribbed about, is not in place and is still being cribbed about.

Most people do not understanding that treading on this fine line between “working fine” and “in ruins” is harder than it looks. However, with a few simple steps, we can all make it easier for our IT boys to get things on track quicker without having to get yelled at for letting the enemy into the organization’s precious data.

Some Things to Do

When handling someone’s PC at work, it can be quite embarrassing, for them and you, to go through the browsing information that you have in your history. Your IT person already has enough problems to worry about than go red-faced when he sees links to lady-boys on your browsing history. It’s quite simple to delete one’s browsing history and if you find it too hard to search for it on the Internet, then you might want to ask your 5-year old.

While you are on the job of cleaning up your browsing history, you might want to clean up the computer too. No, we don’t just mean deleting the objectionable data that you might have “accidently” downloaded, but we are also referring to the physical state of the machine. They don’t need to use your cookie-crumbles filled keyboard or your sticky mouse. Their job is hard enough without staring into a monitor that hasn’t been cleaned for decades and for heaven’s sake, remove those personal post-its and notes from all over the screen.

Things to Avoid

Most people have this annoying habit of working on files and storing them locally. Most people tend to stick to the practices they follow at home, which basically means that data gets stored on the local desktop rather than on the server, which is how it should be. The servers have been installed because they are safer and more reliable as compared to the puny desktop you are sitting on. You are more likely to lose valuable data from your PC, especially if your computer requires some major repairs that might see you end up losing anything you store on your computer.

Another annoying habit is the “what’s my password?” question that keeps popping up. No IT staff member will ever have access to the password on your computer, even if it is connected to the entire office infrastructure. At no point will they be able to tell you what it is and all they can do is reset it. There are plenty of things that your IT administrator needs to do every day and remembering your password shouldn’t be one of them.

The job of running an organization’s network isn’t easy by any means. These IT guys are under a lot of pressure to maintain things in the right manner, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. There are no chances for slip-ups and amidst that tense and on-the-edge atmosphere, there is always the odd chance that some employee raises a ticket to complain about some problem. Whatever your problem might be, you need to make sure that you make their job as easy as possible so that they can get back to protecting the organization and making your job simpler.

Lynette Parker – author

Working in a company as a system’s administrator, Lynette spent a lot of her time ensuring smooth functioning of her organization’s network. Her tryst with problematic users meant that her job would get doubly difficult without any room for error. She enjoys reading about others in the IT support industry, particular the blog of Evolve Computers IT support, in Richmond, Surrey, since they have experience handling organizations of different sizes and great dwn to earth advice. Lynette’s experience has held her in good stead and gives her a strong foundation to spread her knowledge through blogs and more!