Tip 10 in the continuing saga of Tips to providing Technical Support

As promised, the next tip in providing support (although you probably heard something similar growing up)

Clean up after yourself.

Put files back where you found them. Undo any changes to system settings if they are not part of the solution. The changes you do not undo will become the next trouble call.

Do you remember as a child, your parents telling you to clean up after yourself? (Some of you might still hear this from your spouse.)

When troubleshooting an issue, you may try several different potential solutions. If one attempt does not work, undo what you tried. (Obviously a solution requiring several steps does not mean undo the initial steps.)

But is you are making registry edits, moving or editing configuration files, or making other changes NOT part of the final solution, UNDO those changes. Those unneeded changes WILL be observed later. You might be the one seeing them, or someone else. Later, they (or you), forgetting why those changes were made, may think this is a required configuration. That change you made and forgot may be the source of the next problem.

For the same reason you pick up your tools when finished with them, this prevents you from tripping over them later or not knowing where to find them.

(note - and not just to keep you coming back - I will cover documentation.)