smart computer use?

I live in North Dakota. Winters get very cold and brutal at times. I’m sure if you’ve heard anything about North Dakota you have heard about that.

That’s the story setup…

Here is the quick back story about my old computers.

I have a couple of old desktop computers that I have recently rotated out of use in favor for new desktop computers. Both of the old computers are tower units that built about 5 years ago. I had to just finally rotate them out and replace them with new computers because they just couldn’t keep up with modern applications for me any more.

I would consider both of the old computers to be worth keeping around, however. You just never know when you will get the itch to set up a computer that is a few years old to either play Unreal Tournament GOTY or maybe set up a linux server for a web development playground. At least that is my line of thinking.

So, I put both of the computers out in the garage.

I put them there in hopes that some day I might feel like using them again.

Cold weather and computers

I would like to think that cold weather can have a completely negative effect on computers. I know for a fact that if a computer is going to be turned on or off, it should not be sitting in 20 degree temperatures. The effects of hot-cold changes would wreak havoc on the computer hardware.

But, I would also think that a computer might be completely fine sitting in the cold if it will not be turned on and will only be there for storage.

I am thinking that I will probably take the hard drives out of the two old computers and keep them in the warm confines of my studio. I don’t really think I need anything from the hard drives, but I would like to keep them around and keep them operational if a situation arises where I need a hard drive.

I think that the rest of the computer (motherboard, CPU, RAM, CD drives, tower, power supply, etc.) will be fine sitting in the garage for storage over the winter. Or at least I’ll find out someday if and when I might try to use them again after storing them in the garage over the winter.

Temperature drops and computers

This whole situation also got me thinking about how changing temperatures can be bad for old computers. I had another computer that was from the same 2001 era that these two old computers are from. This particular other computer was being used at the office of the business where I work. It is more than a few years old but was being used as a developers computer (ftp, text editors, and simple non-resource intensive apps were all that it was running).

The heat went out over a particular winter weekend and the temperatures in the office dropped to maybe 40-50 degrees from the usual 70 degree mark.

When I came into the office on Monday morning, that old computer was not running, and the CPU fan and heatsink were hanging out the side of the computer by it’s wires. Hmm… not a good thing I though to myself. Turns out that the CPU fan and heatsink had snapped off of the motherboard, the plastic clips that held the fan and heatsink on the motherboard were broke and there really was no way to fix other than replace the motherboard.

I could only assume that this had happened because of the temperature drop… in combination with the brittle old plastic inside the computer.

Too bad. I kinda liked that old machine. Now it’s cannibalized for parts.

Ah, how the life of an old computer can be ended so quickly.

You should get to know a good computer technician, they will make your life of computer use less stressful. After having worked with and having dealt with good computer technicians and bad computer technicians, here’s what I consider to be the important qualities of a good computer tech.

Speaking in layman’s terms. Not everybody can “talk the talk” when it comes to computers. Even the more tech savvy computer users may be boggled by certain computer concepts and need their computer problems, and computer solutions, conveyed to them in a way they can understand.

If you get the sense that your computer tech is trying to confuse you, or looks down on you because you don’t seem to know what you’re talking about, find another tech to help you with your computer problems.

Not looking to nickel-and-dime you to death. It’s easy to give in to all kinds of suggestions or to pay for something that you are unsure of when you are desperate to get your computer working. Just ask questions about what you are actually paying for and if you are routinely left confused and feeling like you don’t understand why to payed for what, start looking for another tech.

Willing to give you quick, free advice about your issues. I always like a computer tech who likes to answer a few quick questions to help me determine if my issues are beyond what I am able to handle. For example, if I’m dealing with a computer that wants to randomly restart or crash a lot, I might ask them what they think is causing the problem.

If they give some good quick advice for some things to try on my own, I appreciate that. I have received the input of an experienced pro and I can maybe try some more troubleshooting at home before finally deciding that the issue is beyond my capabilities to fix. If I can’t fix the issue, I’ll then usually take the machine into the same tech and pay to have diagnose the problems, and maybe fix it too.

Also, on your side of the spectrum, don’t take advantage of a tech that likes to give free advice. Always respect the fact that they have to get back to their job. Always thank them. They’ll like to work with you.

What specifically has turned me on or off

I can typically fix my own computers. I do, however, run into situations where I need to refer to a professional tech to fix an issue. I usally decide to use a computer tech because I either don’t have time to deal with hours of troubleshooting and research, or because I just have no idea what the issue is.

Here’s some specific things that made me like a particular computer tech:

• I walked into a shop expecting to pay $10-$15 for IDE cables, and they just gave them to me because they “had tons of them laying around”.
• I convinced myself I needed to buy some heatsink gel, but they convinced me I didn’t, even though they could have just sold me some either way. Turns out I didn’t actually need the gel and they did legitimately save me from buying something I didn’t need.
• I had a quick conversation about what was crashing my PC. The tech gave me ideas of about 4 things I should take a look at and didn’t even suggest that I bring in the PC.

Here’s a specific moment that made me not like a particular tech:

• I was looking for a heatsink for a not-that-hard-to-find AMD chip/motherboard combo, and the tech tried to sell me a new motherboard/cpu/heatsink combo after telling me I wouldn’t be able to find one. I’m not that stupid.

And in addition to those there have been lots of middle-ground instances where the tech either just seemed inept, seemed unenthusiastic, seemed pretentious, was just not helpful or able to fix the problem, or was just a jackass. Those kinds of instances will drive a person to want to find better computer support.

Getting to know a good computer tech will make your life of computer use that much more enjoyable and that much less stressful. There’s lots of good ones out there. Make sure you maintain a good relationship with the tech when you find a good one. You’ll be glad to have a good tech that you can rely on when you run into the inevitable problems that a computer can have.