talkingdigital.org

Cheap computers are everywhere. I say this knowing that cheap is relative. $600 to one person is different than $600 to another.

Some may think that $600 is high considering that the same $600 can buy you other items that will last much longer than 4-6 years and those things typically won’t break down or crash.

Is $600+ for a computer high when you compare it to a nice piece of furniture, art or a pretty good tuneup on your car?

Once you’ve purchased a computer, how much is too much to spend on a repair? When do you fix it and when do you replace it?

Sometimes we over simplify this decision process. We try to come up with formulas like, “If the repair cost is higher than one third the price of new, and the system is more than three years old, you should replace it.” However, there is much more to consider than a basic formula can offer.

No matter how much you spend on the purchase of a new computer or how much an upgrade or repair may cost, the true value of a computer is in the information, not the components.

If you suddenly lost your address book, how much would you pay to get it back? If you suddenly lost all of your photos, how much would you pay to get them back? If all of your financial and business data were suddenly gone, how much would you pay to get it back? Chances are that the value of one or more of these things exceeds the value of the computer.

The more I work with people and computers, the more I realize that computers can not be compared to anything else. Yet, people try.

People try to compare their computers to cars, appliances, and other items that we use in day-to-day life. Being a computer repair guy is far more stressful than being a washing machine repair guy. If the washing machine guy can’t fix the problem, does your entire wardrobe disappear? If he makes a mistake while replacing a belt, is there a chance that it will tear your clothes to shreds? Not really.

Working with computers is quite different. I have seen entire family photo collections disappear in an instant. I have seen years worth of financial data accidentally deleted. These are daily mistakes that have no equal in the world outside of computers.

There are two costs to every computer and both are equally important. There is the cost of the system itself and the cost of maintaining that system.

Buying a top of the line computer is worthless if you don’t spend a few dollars on a backup drive. Spending a few dollars on a backup drive is useless if  you don’t use it. Be honest with yourself and evaluate how important the data on your computer really is and how significant of a role it plays in your life.

This may be an eye opening process, but the sooner you realize it, the more you will take care of the information that the system holds.

Computers are easy. No, really they are. They are not intuitive, but they are easy.

In order to prove my point, I have developed the Cochran Sliding Scale of Easiness. Using this scale I can easily gauge whether something is easy or not and just how easy that thing may or may not be.

Here are the criteria for evaluating if a thing is easy.

1. Can it be broken down into steps?

2. Are the procedures always the same once learned?

3. Does every part and/or process have a name?

4. Can someone who has never done said thing before do it simply by following a precise set of notes?

The more you can answer yes to the given process or thing, the easier that thing is. See, computer’s are easy.

Computers are not intuitive. As much as we want them to be, computers offer no obvious help. To use the help that is offered, you must first learn the things that there is no help for. At some point, someone has to teach you something about the computer so that you can get on your way in the learning process.

Computers are easy to learn, but you must put in the work. Here’s what you should know..

1. Buy a notebook and keep it by your computer. Write in it every time you learn something.

2. Write clear concise notes. Do not skip a single step and never assume that you will remember next time. Write it down.

3. Learn the names for everything. This may be the best use for a computer book. In general, books can’t teach you anything, but a good book that points out all of the Windows features and names them will go a long way in getting you started.

4. Realize that everything you do with your computer is a process. There is not flowchart for doing everything with your computer, but there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of little process to do each thing.

5. Processes rarely change. Once you learn how to print, you will follow that same process every time in every program. Once you learn to save, that same process will work the same way in every program. The same goes for sending an email, attaching a photo to email, spell checking a document, searching Google, installing a program, etc.

I think the biggest reason that people have a hard time learning their computers is that they are overwhelmed. When you are overwhelmed, your confidence is shaken. When your confidence is shaken, your mind closes to learning.

Rather than focus on learning the computer, learn how to print. Learn how to save. Learn how to send an email. Gradually work your way up to big things like creating tables, formatting columns, removing backgrounds from photos, etc. You will discover that all large processes on your computer are actually made up of lot of short processes.

Eat it the same way you would an elephant – one bite at a time.

This week’s article is for all you dial-up Internet users who haven’t moved to broadband because it is too expensive. I am not directing my comments to those who are on dial-up because they live in the toolywads and are not eligible for DSL or Cable Internet.

Broadband Internet is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity and a value for anyone who uses the Internet more than five minutes per day. To illustrate I will explain how broadband Internet can give you half an hour or more to the average day simply by making one single chore easier.

How a dial-up user makes dinner:

1. Take a survey of what’s in the fridge. Ah! Left over chili, garlic, sour cream, and corn tortillas. – 5 minutes.
2. Dig through half a dozen or more recipe books to find a recipe that includes enough of these ingredients to make a pleasant dish. – at least 20 minutes.
3. Try to find a way to keep the recipe book open and a place to set the recipe book while you compile the meal – 10 minutes.

How a broadband user makes dinner:

1. Surveys the fridge as noted above. – 5 minutes.
2. Go to allrecipes.com and foodtv.com and check off a list of ingredients that you have on hand. – 2 minutes.
3. Click the button to search recipes and see results of all 200 recipes that meat your specifications. – 6 seconds.
4. Narrow the search to include something that also has purple onions. – 3 seconds.
5. Print out the recipe as a 3×5 cutout. – 15 seconds.
This process would take over an hour on dial-up Internet waiting for pages to load.

Not only is the broadband connection faster, but it changes how time is spent. Rather than waiting, searching, and trying to find even a simple result for your search, it quickly puts you in the right category and then all of your time is spent using your right brain to choose which result you want to go with.

How a dial-up user programs their TV remote:

1. Dig through drawers looking for the manual. – 20minutes-1 hour.
2. Assuming that the remote is found, look up in index how to program the device.

How a broadband user programs their TV remote:

1. Visit the manufacturer’s website. – 5 seconds.
2. Go to the support section and into the manual downloads. – 10 seconds.
3. Download the manual. – 45 seconds (25 minutes or more on dial-up).
4. Search the manual for “program channels.” – 6 seconds.

Broadband Internet becomes a tool that replaces lost time. Isn’t that worth $5-$10 more per month?

In fact, it is very likely that if you do your homework, you will find that broadband Internet will actually save you money and time.

Every January, I spend several days per week setting up new computers. Some people receive them as gifts for Kwanzaa or one of the other Winter festivals, others just take advantage of the great prices this time of year.

Setting up a new computer correctly can be one of the most important factors in how your computer performs the rest of its life. Here are a few tips to help you along the way.

1. Don’t tear down your old computer all at once. Only take away the big pieces and leave the cables in place.

Many of the same cables can be reused and this will prevent having to re-string wires. Power cords, modem cables, and USB cables haven’t changed so there is no need to use the new ones that came in the box.

2. Put the big pieces in place before hooking wires together. This will prevent having to attach cables more than once. Make sure that all of the devices will fit in their spaces and cords are long enough.

3. Hook up all other cables before plugging in power cords.

POWER EVERYTHING ON

4. When prompted, give as little information as possible. You don’t need to register with Windows, you don’t need to tell it what kind of Internet you are using, you don’t need to type in a name for each person who will be using the computer and, whatever you do, don’t put in any passwords before the system is completely up and running.

If you are asked to put in a password for your user account, just leave it blank.

5. Don’t let any teenagers do anything besides hook up the pieces. Getting the software in place is critical before you let a teenager loose on the system.

6. Uninstall all of the crap software. Take off all Norton or McAfee software as well as any other software that you don’t want. Look for the Trial version of Microsoft Office and make sure to take that off as well.

7. Download and Install AVG free edition .

8. Run Windows update from the Tools menu in Internet Explorer or top of the Programs menu.

9. Download and install Mozilla Firefox and remove the icon for Internet Explorer from the your desktop as well as any other icons that you don’t need.

10. If this is your first computer, setup a free email account at gmail.com. This will likely be the last email address you will ever need. If you have another email address, use it to give away to solicitors and prize applications.

You will then have a computer that will surf the web safely, run cleaner and have far fewer problems than if you had run it with all included software and settings.

I have had to fight back tears of joy as I put the newsletter together. At times I could barely read what was on my screen. The anticipation for changes in my life has probably lead to many misspellings and errors, but you may not notice as those errors probably still fall within our guaranteed 78 percent accuracy range.

I have looked forward to this day for almost a year – and it finally has come.

Early this year, Microsoft released Windows Vista. I knew that it wouldn’t be great, but as a computer guy, I felt compelled to use it so that I would understand how too work on it.

I didn’t want to commit my desktop to it just in case there were problems. So, I put it on my Averatec laptop with 1 gig of RAM, a dual core AMD Turion X64 and 100 gig hard drive. It seemed powerful enough.

Many Averatecs didn’t come with recovery CDs, but I didn’t see a problem with erasing Windows XP to make room for Vista.

It only took a few moments of using Windows Vista to realize how much slower my computer had become. The bootup time had more than doubled and I would get all shake y as I waited for it to shut down.

Programs opened slowly. I was sometimes able to connect to a wireless connection, yet I was not able to actually browse the web on networks that I knew were open because the XP systems right beside me were working fine.

Then two weeks ago Rick showed me something that would change my life. Averatec had posted Windows XP recovery disks for my laptop. I wasted no time and for $20, I ordered the disks.

Today, my disks arrived in the mail. I haven’t installed them yet because I can’t bring myself to stop hugging and kissing them. I should get to bed early tonight, but I feel like a kid on Christmas. I don’t know if I can wait any longer. I must install XP back on my laptop and make it feel loved again.

Thank you Averatec. Thank you for giving me back my Windows XP.