Yesterday I thought my computer at work was dying. I was frantically transferring stuff with my flash drive to another computer and burning it to cd. Not that this was a bad thing to do – I am an incurable junk collector in real life and on my computer. There is still a lot of “house-cleaning” to do. Our computer guy (there really should be more elegant titles for the two people that keep things purring along – (like Grand Rulers of Technology World) came and looked at it and spent about 20 minutes and had it running fine. The problem wasn’t that complicated and I am not a complete newbie, so what is the “thing” that makes someone be able to sit down at a computer and be able to tell what the problem is and take the necessary steps to fix it? I know that there is a lot of education and experience involved but the part I’m fascinated by is the thought process. I have experienced it sometimes and I have some skills but definite limitations. Yesterday was one of those times where I seemed to be in one mode and that mode was not at all on the same plane as the problem. That happens in other aspects of our lives too so maybe it’s not even a technology problem but a perception problem.
I’m accused of being “that computer guy” or in my case “that computer girl” that no one seems to understand. I’m glad you got your computer back.
I think that as a newbie, it is important to remember — have no fear! If the computer is new, unless you kick it, it will probably be fine. Even if it dies, you can usually get the hard drive back.
It is only when the “computer guy” stops talking that there’s a problem. If the computer guy can multitask, then its something easy and you’re fine. It is when you talk to him (or in my case, her) and they act like they don’t hear you, you are in trouble. It is then that they are heavily cogitating on the real problems.
Out of the 1000’s of times I’ve sat at a computer to “fix” it, I can only think of twice when the computer was truly down for the count. Each time I caught the data and put it on a disk before there was a problem.
Computers go bad, but I’ve found they usually give warning signs like noise and slowing down a lot.
So relax, you’re doing fine! We’re all newbies at something!
Thank you for reading my blog!
Cool Cat Teacher