In article writes:

Computers are very complicated devices although the user interface
appears simple.

Thanks for the laugh (though I agree with the first part of the
sentence). By now, computers should be tools and should just work like
tools - forever.

If you are using a computer for a fairly
demanding task like recording audio, you do need to be able to
troubleshoot them once & awhile.

I'm using it for the fairly demanding task of running Word, Excel,
Lotus 1-2-3 (yeah, really), Netscape, and Thunderbird. And an
occasional audio application for fun. I know better than to depend on
a computer for any serioud audio applications. Computer are very
complicated devices.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

On 30 Mar 2005 20:39:22 -0500, (Mike Rivers)
wrote:


In article writes:

Computers are very complicated devices although the user interface
appears simple.

Thanks for the laugh (though I agree with the first part of the
sentence). By now, computers should be tools and should just work like
tools - forever.

Really? Just like your mixing desk, a computer should work forever
without a speck of maintanence. You are trolling me, right? Or do
you equate a computer with a pair of pliers...

Al

In article writes:

Really? Just like your mixing desk, a computer should work forever
without a speck of maintanence. You are trolling me, right? Or do
you equate a computer with a pair of pliers...

Pretty much so. I don't equate rebuilding the computer's operating
system because I can't figure out what's wrong with replacing a
capacitor because the low frequency response of a channel in my
console has dropped off.

The problem that I have with this subject is not that maintenance is
necessary, but with the nature of the maintenance. It's shotgun
because we can't troubleshoot.

Just yesterday my DSL connection was going up and down, so I called
Verizon Tech Support (who's usually pretty helpful) hoping to be told
that there's a local problem and it'll go away in an hour or so. "May
I test your line?" the tech asked, and I told him to go ahead. Seems
like that should have told him what the problem was since my interface
told me that there was no DSL connection. But he had me reset the
interface and set up a new connection profile. By then the line had
settled down (though it went out again for a while a few hours later)
and I got connected, so he was through with me. Then I had to go
through the wireless security settings and reset those, and fix a
couple of other things - things that were never broken in the first
place.

This is more of a commentary on tech support than on the maintenance
of computers, but the principle is the same. Attack the problem with a
big hammer rather than actually diagnose and fix what's wrong.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo