When you are in need of getting help from a real person for problem you are experiencing Be Prepared. If you are properly prepared this experience will go much more quickly and smoothly. I give you some good places to get email support on my trouble links page.

If you are sending an email to a site, mailing list or help desk give them the information about your system in your first contact. Be sure to include the Model (ie PowerBook 3400c, PowerMac 7600, iMacDVSE), Operating System, amount of RAM and whether you are using Virtual Memory and if so how much. This information is available very easily from the About Box or System Profiler. It is also very helpful if you can give them an idea of your expertise and be honest. This will help them to assess how much of an explanation they will have to give you for certain basic tasks.

When the question has to do with software also include the version number of the software and how much memory you have allocated to it. This information is easily available from the Get Info window while the program is active.

Try to give as full an explanation of the problem as you can. Is the problem reproducible, what error messages, if any, have you seen and what measures you have taken to correct the problem.

Another very handy thing to include is a desktop snapshot or two if they are appropriate. Learn how to use them as they often can provide the key information needed to solve your problem quickly. If you are taking a snapshot of your Finder windows it usually is best to show them in a list view with dates and file size visible. Desktop snapshots are very useful for those error messages so long as they aren't system errors.

Mailing lists in general don't accept attachments.

If you are calling Tech Help be sure to have the system and software information handy so you don't waste time looking for it and be at your computer ready to perform any tasks that will help resolve your problem. Keeping notes about what problems you have experienced is particularly helpful especially if the phone call is on your nickel also keep notes about what you are instructed to do in case the same problem pops up again.