Help desk first stop for most computer issues

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Tiffany Colburn
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (AFPN) --  Computers play a vital role in everyday business, and now computer help for Airmen in U.S. Air Forces in Europe is just a call away to the Consolidated Help Desk at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. 

For issues such as deleting and creating user accounts, unlocking accounts, installing patches, loading printers and installing programs a call to the help desk starts the ball rolling.

The objective behind calling the help desk at Ramstein AB first is to ensure the proper accounting of computer support.

"The help desk will open a trouble ticket and refer action to the correct (local) office," said Staff Sgt. Shadrine Jackson, the 39th Communications Squadron NCO in charge of information management at Incirlik AB, Turkey. "The help desk can fix some of the problems, for example, unlocking accounts, resetting passwords and updating users' information; however, the majority of maintenance or trouble-shooting is done by Incirlik AB (client systems administrators)."

The help desk is the first point of contact even for computer issues occurring after normal duty hours

"If it's a problem the help desk cannot fix using remote tools, and it's a mission critical problem, the help desk will call the group (client systems administrators) or appropriate office on-call representative," Sergeant Jackson said.

Individual users are required to adhere to several preventative measures to help ensure their systems stay up and running.

"Users cannot load unauthorized files or software on their computers," Sergeant Jackson said. "Another important point to remember is to log off, not shut down, your computer (at the end of the day) so patches and other updates can be loaded." 

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