I work as a programmer. To other programmers that means i know some technologies and languages. To non-programmers (muggles as i call them) it means that I know all electronic devices and how they work. Software and Hardware.

Let me just compare what I get asked on a regular bases with my uncle who is a plumber. We both have a specialized set of skills but the main difference is that his is understood by people in general while mine is not. They know that if a pipe is leaking in their attic and they call my uncle to fix it then he will perform some work and will get paid for it. If the roof was falling in then they wouldn't call him as they know a plumber doesn't fix roofs.

In contrast when someones computer starts "acting strange" then they assume I know exactly what is wrong and can fix it immediately for free. I was once asked to fix a computer by a friend of a friend which had stopped working abruptly when a cloud of white smoke came out of it.... I regularly get asked to fix computers that have become slow, are throwing blue screens etc. I'm expected to spend hours looking at a broken laptop that no longer opens Word or Excel.

Rather than try to charge people I instead tell them I don't know how to fix their problem (which is a lie and also bruising to my inflated sense of intellect). I do this to avoid spending hours removing adware from dells. Plus if you help one, more will come. I instead direct them to a professional PC repair shop which will charge them. "Oh" they say, "will it be expensive?". "About the same price as fixing a leaky pipe" i think to myself.