Before I say anything else, I’d like to point out that I do not provide computer support over the phone. I hate doing it, and I’m not particularly good at it. However, this does not stop family members from calling me for free advice. So I spent much of last weekend discussing the woes of connecting an almost-new hand-me-down computer to the Internet. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that a network card is not the same thing as a modem card. And with free tech support, you get what you pay for.
So with that in mind, this week, I’d like to make an often-overlooked point about the world of computers. Sometimes YOU are not the best person for the job. Even power nerds defer to experts when the going gets tough. Computer problems can be hugely frustrating and there comes a point when it is a lot better to just take the computer into a computer store and have someone else fix it.
If you inherit a computer, it may have hardware that you don’t want or need, such as a network card. If a computer has (or ever had) a network card installed, it thinks it needs to communicate with a network. If no network exists, the computer continues to attempt to find the network anyway, which slows it down. Removing network drivers and their ilk can be a huge chore, even for networking geeks. If you don’t remove the networking information, you can end up with an almost new computer that behaves like a 286.
In virtually all cases, when you receive a hand-me-down computer, it is a good idea to have an expert erase everything off the computer and start over. (Of course, if there is data you care about, back it up first!) Go to your favorite computer store with the computer and all the software you want them to install — most notably the operating system CD and drivers.
I called a local computer store who said they would completely reconfigure a computer for two hours of their time. The hourly rate at a computer store may seem high at first, but think about what your time is worth to you. If the same job takes you all weekend and the computer still doesn’t work right, are you really saving money? Life is too short to spend it swearing at a machine.