Computers Are Hard

When I first decided to start writing this, I thought about a daily or semi-daily post of whatever was going on with technology that I had opinions or news on. As the day passed I had more to say and for some reason I felt that posting more than once a day was silly, but still the thoughts tugged at the back of my mind. I don't want the blog to devolve into a bunch of short posts more fitting for a web forum or into a collection of rants that no one cares about. In the end though, all that really matters is the content, and as long as I can produce that then this isn't a total failure.

So during my lunch break today I took my car in for an oil change and tire rotation. If I had a driveway of my own rather than a parking space I might be tempted to do it myself, but alas, I must rely on spending more money than I should for service that I feel is substandard (I could write a novel on how poorly I was treated during my visit). As I am waiting to pay through the nose, the elderly crone behind the desk screeches to the service manager that she cannot properly process my service entry as her "hard drive has crashed." I take a glance at her monitor and can see an error message up on the screen, but everything else looks to be normal. She tries to click some things on the computer to show the manager that her computer was broken and I can see the error message pop up again, "Unable to contact printer." Apparently she had no idea what to do here or how to respond and thus was unable to proceed.

This made me think, why is it that computers are so difficult for some and easy for others. Many people claim that it has to do with exposure. My generation and the ones following have had computers for as long as we can remember. They have been tied into every facet of our lives since, at the very least, we started in school. Because of this exposure we know how to operate them and what should be done in certain situations. I think this is only part of the puzzle though.

I think that the real thing you get from all that exposure is a lack of fear. People are afraid of technology and so when they are prompted with a question they are afraid of clicking the wrong thing. Having said that, I think there is one more component that adds to people's reactions with computers, disinterest. Maybe it is a product of the fear people have of computers and technology, maybe it replaces it entirely, but it is another major factor. I am sure that if you have ever done any IT work or computer repair, then you will have to run into clients that you can classify as either disinterested or afraid of their computer. There are the users who don't care what the problem is, don't want to know anything about it, they just want you to fix it. Then you have the users who get a message on their screen stating exactly what the issue is but call you for help anyways because they feel that they can't understand the problem.

I think people need to understand that they aren't going to break the computer by picking the wrong answer. I don't necessarily want them to go in and delete their Windows folder, but if something comes up and says "Windows would like to apply an update" they can click ok without worrying that they are going to cause all their work to be deleted. Don't be afraid to explore your computer! Open up folders you don't normally use, run applications you have never seen, but temper that with some basic judgment. If something comes up and warns you that changing a value might be bad, read that warning, don't just run away. Think of it like working on your car. You can pop the hood and look around, even crawl under and look at all the workings of it down there without causing an issue. If you are really worried about breaking something, start slow. Check out the options in Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer. If you run into a problem, sit down and think about it, maybe look for a solution on Google, don't fret over it.

Here are a couple of true stories that could have easily been handled by the user had they sat back and thought about the problem or read the error message. Some are probably boring and others you wonder how that could be right, but I assure you each one actually happened.

1. A relative of mine wanted me to look at their computer. Nothing was acting up, but the machine had asked several times in the past if it was ok to apply some Windows Updates. Because they were unsure of what to do, they just closed the notice and left it be. Now you shouldn't just click ok to everything, but Windows Updates should be fine. Microsoft isn't going to release something that breaks their software (insert Vista joke), so installing a few updates shouldn't cause a major issue.
2. A client called in one day stating they had a USB flash drive that wasn't working and wanted to know why. Our engineer (not myself but a coworker) works with them over the phone and connects to their computer with a remote control tool we use (basically a VNC session to their machine). Initially they felt that the drive had picked a drive letter that was in use by a network share and it just needed to be renamed, a common enough issue. As they worked they found that the system didn't appear to recognize that a USB drive was connected. They finally suggest unplugging the USB drive and plugging it back in, in the hopes that Windows would see when it is connected. The user then responds "ok, one minute. I need to get something to open the package with." Turns out that the user had bought the drive, but not taken it out of the package, yet still wondered why it didn't work. I think the user on this one just didn't think much about what they were doing. I mean you don't buy food and leave it in the box on your table and wonder why you are still hungry. You don't buy batteries and put them in your glove box then wonder why your flashlight doesn't shine.
3. Just a few days later I received a call from a general practice doctor that had a wireless broadband card, like the ones you get from Sprint, AT&T, etc. They were working with it and couldn't figure out why they couldn't get on the Internet. The software that you use just sat there stating that it couldn't find the device when it had worked perfectly in the past. After troubleshooting I find what looks like the card in the Device Manager, but not the right type of card. I ask them to slide the PC card out of their laptop and back in, much like my coworker did with the USB drive, and for the same reasons. They tell me that the card is still in the laptop bag, which they don't have with them currently. I thought that perhaps I had misunderstood what they were looking for and asked if they could get it because we would need it to troubleshoot, to which I was asked "You need that to be plugged in to get on the Internet?" Turns out that was the entire problem and oddly enough he just had this issue after using it for 6 months, which means for 6 months the card was in the laptop, then one day they decide to take it out and can't figure out why it didn't work anymore.
4. We had a call one day indicating that a user couldn't get to the Internet or the server. After a bit of troubleshooting we found that it was more than just that one user, but the entire office. We kept working on the issue for a few more minutes before we decided to contact the primary contact for the company and make sure the server wasn't down or anything. The primary contact informed us that the power was out across pretty much the entire building and that the lights were completely out through out the entire building. I am not sure how the end user was able to still use their computer, but the primary contact informed us that everyone in the company was aware of the power outage so they were surprised that someone would call in. I ended up calling the user back and explaining that the computer issues have to do with the power being out, to which they were fairly surprised but understood the connection.

My intent with these stories isn't to belittle the people that faced this issues, but to show that a lot of problems can be addressed by just giving them a little thought. Next time you run into a problem (computer related or not) just take a step back and think about the problem, look at what you are being told, and see if you can find a solution before you give up.