Five Of The Worst Ways People Have Tried To Fix Their Computers

by
Photo: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo

Sometimes your computer breaks. It happens. You spill something, or drop something, or you try to boot up and nothing happens. Many of us resolve the issue with a liberal use of Google, and others take the failing device to a person trained to fix computers. And some people thoroughly screw up their device trying to fix it themselves, and then take it to a repair shop.

We reached out to some tech support agents around the U.S. to learn some of the worst ways people have tried to fix their computers. Don’t do what these people did.

They add batteries to their Ethernet cable

Some people have really good intentions when they try to fix their computers. They actually go and watch some YouTube videos and make an effort. But if you lack a basic understanding of how electronics work than you can end up being the victim of a very silly prank, like the one tech support agent Peter Lopez from Brooklyn ran into on a call.

He arrived at the client’s home to find that they’d taped AA batteries to an ethernet cable. “I asked why they did that,” Lopez told Gizmodo. “They told me the batteries on the cables triple their internet connection. I was surprised by how strongly they stood by this opinion, but then they showed me why… This video is a prank, but a good one, and they thought it was real!”