Everyone who uses a computer knows (or should know) that problems always lurk around the corner, waiting to pounce when you least expect it: You delete a file you need, or a power failure (or surge) knocks your computer out, or you get a virus (if you use Windows), or you get a cryptic message and it no longer works, or it just doesn't turn on one morning. Who you gonna call? 

Well, you could call your kid, or the kid next door, who says he knows a lot about computers. Or you could call the Geek Squad, or call an independent consultant like this month's General Meeting speaker. Or you could try fixing it yourself.

 Long-time computer troubleshooter Lee Maxwell will talk about how you can diagnose and fix a wide variety of computer problems by yourself at the October General Meeting of BCUG. He will go over a suggested checklist of symptoms and possible causes that can help you determine what is wrong and what to do about it. He will review the vast resources of troubleshooting information available to you on the internet, as well as commonsense practices to avoid or minimize the impact of various problems. And because he knows he doesn't know everything, he will invite questions, contributions and corrections from meeting attendees that evening. So come prepared to stump the geek! 

Lee Maxwell has been a self-employed Macintosh computer consultant and troubleshooter for the last 13 years, troubleshooting hardware and software problems as well as networks and other issues. Because specializing in Macs left him feeling like the Maytag repairman, he has branched out into troubleshooting PCs running Windows and also works and plays with PCs running Linux, especially the Ubuntu distribution. He also has been a newspaper reporter and editor. Lee also teaches computer graphics to adults at night for the Monmouth County Vocational School District's Evening School Division at the Communications High School in Wall Township, including how to use Adobe software and how to create websites using HTML and CSS coding. 

Lee is the co-facilitator of the MacWaves Macintosh User Group, a workshop of BCUG, and once was leader of MacWaves and MacFundamentals, which was folded into MacWaves a couple of years ago. He also is the editor of BCUG Bytes and is a former BCUG Trustee.