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GAY SAN DIEGO December 17-30, 2010
COMMUNITY VOICES
Warning! Warning! Danger small business owner! (Read the message and take heed)
It was my first week on the
TECHDIEGO GEOF BARTELL
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Electronics
www.RecycleSanDiego.org
job as a computer tech for a large, national company when it became clear that in addition to fixing computers, I was going to need to be a detective. That’s when I de- veloped this simple problem-solv- ing strategy. This first example made me realize that I often don’t have all the information I need, when I need it. One morning an annoyed re- ceptionist called me, frustrated that her keyboard was not work- ing. Rushing to her office with a new keyboard, I explained all the technical causes for keyboard to cease functioning. When I asked her what hap- pened, she told me “the stupid thing just stopped working.” However, as I picked up her keyboard to examine it, nearly a cup of water rushed out all over my lap—making it appear as if I had totally peed my pants, Ugh! When I gazed at her at again, she sheepishly confided; “Oh yeah, I spilled my water.” In honor of “Spilly Millie” the stenographer, I thought I would share a few simple, common sense trade secrets for solving computer and technical issues that are most often overlooked.
First, don’t be intimidated.
Your computer isn’t smarter than you—yet. At this point, comput- ers are still plastic boxes filled with chips comprised of transis- tors and silicone (sand) that con- duct electricity. The only thing that transistors do is turn on or off, like a light switch. Comput- ers trans- late the on and off switches to zeros and ones. While there can be millions of transis- tors on a single chip; a computer only knows on or off, zero or one. It is this combination of zeros and ones that, with the help of software, make them functional. The human brain is much more intelligent; it is humans that created computers, not the other way around. Until computers start creating humans; do not be intimated. Most importantly, read the messages. When you are working and something bad happens, generally a message will appear
on the screen. It is not a pop-up ad; don’t just close it—read it. Computer messages are simple and straightforward and can be informational or warn you of catastrophic errors and pending calamities. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been called
Gadgets or apps are often very buggy or problematic and account for about 75 percent of all browsing issues. The
about a problem that was a quick fix, but because the caller did not take the time to read the mes- sage on the monitor, they had to call for tech support. If you are a small business owner or a home user you can save yourself a lot of time, money and headaches by reading the messages and acting on them accordingly. Here’s another tip: Internet
Explorer’s No Add-ons. Located in the tools menu, this option allows you to run Internet Ex- plorer without add-ons. Add-ons are components that allow for
good thing is that they are easy to add and remove.
the customization of larger ap- plications and modify the behav- ior of browsers. Both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox use add-ons and plug-ins. If you are having problems browsing the web, the first thing to do is run your browser without the add-ons to see if they are the culprits. Often a deranged video or gadget add-on is causing
the issue. Finally, Google is your friend, especially in under- standing the messages that your computer spits out when it’s not happy. Copy the error exactly as it appears, paste it into Google or another web browser search bar and include a one or two word description of what you were doing when you noticed the problem. If you merely search for “error mes- sages” you will get millions of mostly unrelated answers. For example, let’s say that you open your homepage and get the error message “stack overflow at line 0.” Sounds bad, right? Remain calm and remem- ber not to be intimidated. If you aren’t able to browse via that screen, open Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) and then go to Google. In the search bar type in the exact error message and include one or two words de- scribing what you were doing. Stack overflow at line 0 means something different if it hap- pened while you were opening your Yahoo home page versus working in a database. Entering “stack overflow at line 0 yahoo” should provide the answer you needed.
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that there was a problem with one of the gadgets on your homep- age. Gadgets are those cool little apps that run on your homepage updating the weather, showing TV listings, providing news head- lines, etc. The solution would be to remove and reinstall the gad- get. These gadgets or apps are often very buggy or problematic and account for about 75 percent of all browsing issues. The good thing is that they are easy to add and remove. So remember these simple
rules: Don’t be intimidated, it’s only a box of sand, read error messages carefully, and Google is your friend! Next month I’ll introduce you to the wonderful world of e-waste: what it is, how to get rid of it and how recycling can benefit you. Have a Happy and prosperous
New Year!
Have a burning IT question or just want to learn more about something technical? Shoot me an email at
tech@gay-sd.com and I’ll try to answer it for you, perhaps in this very column.♚
—Geof Bartell has his masters degree in business administration, is a certified project manager and is owner of Fishbone Computing in University Heights.
www.gay-sd.com
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