Sales staff, accounts staff, and managers are not trained to answer technical support questions. No matter how much you badger them they probably can't answer your questions. Neither can customer services. Your first approach should be to the number provided for technical support. 

Do your homework. Have all information that you may need to hand. Get your receipt and reference numbers, your driver CDs, your operating system CD/s, the manuals, product IDs, product serial numbers, and any last minute notes/corrections provided by the retailer. Save yourself and the tech support guy some time. Don't end up spending 30 minutes on hold just to be told that if you don't have your receipt number then they can't help you.

Make sure you have exhausted other avenues of information (like the manual provided). Most helplines complain that the most frequent questions they get asked are questions already covered in the manual or FAQ. RTFM (Read the ******* manual) is the most common under-breath expletive in technical support call centres. 

It doesn't hurt to keep a pen and some paper handy too.

It's not a tech support job to teach you how to use a computer. If you need to learn how to use a computer - learn to read. Buy a "dummies guide" (I recommend them highly) from your local bookshop. Or simpler still: find a geek friend and stand him a drink.

Lying to tech support is like lying to your doctor. It will only make life more difficult for you. Even if you feel that the new drivers you installed are not faulty TELL HIM that you installed them. If you've overclocked your processor, installed "Freeserve", or are running a beta software TELL HIM. Even if you haven't been quite legal and installed a pirated copy of MS Office - TELL your support rep. 

You'll be surprised how often the symptoms of the problem giveaway what you've been doing. He'll eventually find out. Get caught lying and he suddenly doesn't like you and doesn't want to help you anymore.

Tech support reps are judged by how many calls they complete in an average shift, not by the number of problems they've solved. They would therefore like to spend as little time on your call as possible. Help them achieve this goal.

Don't call from a mobile phone that has bad reception, or a speakerphone or cordless phone where quality is poor. If he has to keep repeating himself or shouting it reduces his efficiency and YOU are the one who loses. 

You have spent hours trying to get your computer to work. The chances are that even before you dial the tech support number you are annoyed, frustrated, angry, fuming. Take some time out. Go for a walk.

Show aggression on the phone and you put the tech support rep on the defensive. His priority now is covering his butt - NOT finding a solution for you. If you think he is completely clueless - DON'T tell him that. Ask to speak to a supervisor - POLITELY.

Remember that you couldn't get your computer working despite having it in front of you. They are trying to get it working without even looking at your screen.

They cannot always know when you get an error message, or when something looks wrong. You need to keep them informed in a concise but thorough manner. Vague words like "bad" and "good" don't help. 

"I get a screen that says 'General Protection Fault'" is a lot more specific than "It crashes".

Be attentive, LISTEN to what they have to say, follow instructions. Don't make him repeat for the sixth time how to get to a specific screen. If your mind's on the job you'll know it by now.

Tech support is not there to answer questions on products you have bought elsewhere. You bought a computer from A and a program from B. The program doesn't work.  Don't call the computer supplier for help on it. If B doesn't provide telephone support - TOUGH. Live with it. Else you are wasting tech support time and occupying a telephone line that some other customer needs.

Again, learn to read. Visit newsgroups and websites that may cover your topic...or return your product to B.

At the end of the day your computer, your programs, and your data are YOUR responsibility. Take regular backups. Assume that anytime you call tech support you could be asked to re-format your hard disk and re-install Windows. 

Websites scream the message, computer guides emphasize the importance of backing up, and everybody knows how important it is. If you haven't done it - that's YOUR problem.

Complaining to a techie about how long you've been on hold, or how bad you think the service is doesn't get you anywhere. He doesn't own the company. He doesn't control staffing levels. You are just holding up one of the telephone lines and wasting his time and yours.

Find out who is actually responsible. Ask to speak to a supervisor or manager or get the contact details for them.

We wish you good mental health :-)