talkingDigital

Funny sounds have been a common complaint lately. In some cases the sounds have been normal system sounds, in a couple of other cases the noises were indicative of worse problems.

There are four catagories of sounds that your computer may make. Knowing these sounds will help you better determine whether big problems are instore for your computer.

Whirring – A whirr can be a completelly normal sound, but it can also indicate other problems are not far way.

The most common whirring sound is caused by leaving a CD or DVD in the drive.  On older machines especially, this can cause the computer to sound like it’s taking off in flight and can even vibrate the platform that the computer is on.

Dangerous whirring can be caused by the computers fans. Often this sound varies in pitch as the computer tries  took keep at safe cool levels. If you hear this type of sound, check all your internal fans (there may be three or more). If a fan dies, it could result in a sudden quick death of your computer due to over heating.

Beeping – Beeping from inside the computers case in normal on startup and sometimes on shutdown, but if your computer doesn’t turn on, system beeps can tell a repairman what is wrong with the computer.

Grinding – A subtle grinding sound is normal. This is the sound of the computer thinking. Newer comptuers are virtually silent, but as they get older, it is common for them to make more noise as they work.

The Bad Sound – The best way to describe the bad sound is to compare it to marbles in a tin can. It sounds like a combination of clunks and rattles. The more it sounds like marbles in a tin can the worse the problem is.

This sound typically indicates pending hard drive failure. This problem is not very expensive to fix, but failure to catch it in time could mean a loss of all data on your system.

The Bad Sound gets its name from what computer guys say when they hear it, “Oh, that’t a bad sound!”

Being a roving computer guy is like no other profession. This week I have decided to list the top 10 things that make my job strange and wonderful.

10. Everyone wants to be your friend. Sometimes you are even treated like a celebrity and people are afraid to come up to you and ask you a question.

9. You get to hear dozens of apologies each week for cluttered offices. No one believes you when you tell them that clutter is the norm.

8. You meet dozens of dogs and a few cats each week. Dogs love computer guys. Many people have told me, “My dog never is this friendly with anyone!”

7. You are  asked by wives to help monitor husband’s and kids Internet activity and you are asked by husbands how to delete history and cookies.

6. You get to setup brand new computers each week and inhale that new computer smell.

5. You get to explain how problems happened with phrases like, “I told you last time that Norton Antivirus slows down your computer” or “Shady problems come from shady websites.”

4. After working on a computer problem for an hour and using every tool in your software bag to get rid of it, not to mention tweaking dozens of settings, you have to answer the question, “What did you do to fix it?”

3. You get to hear the phrase, “I am a computer illiterate,” “I know nothing about computers,” “I only know enough about computers to get into trouble,” “You know those Computers for Dummies books – those were written for me.” dozens of times each week.

2. You get to see how other people live their digital lives. No two computers or offices are the same and I get many ideas from those that I work for.

1. Job security. I try to never leave a problem partially fixed. I aim to meet every need of every client because I know that I will always be back eventually. Every computer has problems. Every computer user  needs help eventually. I spend my day helping people by fixing their computers. I am a doctor, a mechanic, a librarian and a teacher all crammed into one geek package.

With all of the great headlines coming from the Pirate Bay trial over the past few weeks, I have really been thinking about how hard it must be for both sides to make their case.

Copying software, music or movies without paying for them is illegal. Anything that is illegal is wrong.

I was at the Goodwill this week and looking through their CD collection this week and it got me to wondering if buying a used CD was technically legal. The artist has collected the royalties from the original sale, but does that make it OK?

Are libraries legal? Every book I read from the library is a book that I will likely never buy. Same goes for magazines. I can go to the library and read any issue of any magazine without having to subscribe. Today most libraries even have music and movies available for checkout.

True, someone has paid for those items, but what about all of the lost sales and royalties from people who borrowed but didn’t buy?

Back to my Goodwill analogy, if I buy a shirt from Goodwill that is still in new or near-new condition, am I stealing royalties from the designer?

If the fact that the library, thrift store or yard sale host has already paid for  these items, doesn’t that weaken case against file sharing and illegal piracy.

If someone pays for a song then gives it to someone else, is that illegal? Yes.

If someone buys a Rolex then lets each of his neighbors wear it on alternating days, is that illegal? No.

If someone buys a fake Rolex, pirated copy of Windows or pirated movie, and they never would have purchased the item otherwise, are royalties lost?

I need to be clear, I am not writing in support of piracy. I am just trying to follow the logic behind the various anti-piracy laws. While it may sound crazy, I also wonder if it will be illegal a few years from now for libraries, thrift stores and yard sales to have certain items for sale.