The mystery of computers & their users

User Friendly the Comic Strip - The Daily Static

I love this comic strip. I've been reading it for years and I even go into the archives to check out the really old stuff every now and then. The geek in me really loves the dark humor and the anti-Microsoft attitude that the characters have. The most recent strips have been goofing on the Marketing guy (who loves anything Microsoft) who hasn't backed up his hard drive, ever, and of course, it crashes. The geek lectures him and makes fun of him, only to go back to his own desk to find his own hard drive has crashed and, well, I'm sure you can figure it out from there.

A very timely comic for me right now. A major concern for any computer guru is backing up data. Hard drives don't crash often but when they do it is always a problem for the geek and the user. As a geek with a heart (deep down, it's in there somewhere) I love to help those in need of geek services. Sometimes it's as easy as informing people what is going on in the virus/hacker/information highway traffic jam world we live in. Other times it's helping those who think I'm a goddess of inspiring intellect figure out why their home computers are flashing pornographic pop up windows when all they want to do is to place their Pea Pod order. A few simple questions for everyone to consider:

1. Do you have virus protection? What's that you say? Well, that answers my question.
2. Do you have children who access the internet? Yes, but they're good kids, they don't go to any "bad" sites.... yeah, ok, how about you or your husband/wife... hmmmmm? Curiosity killed the dog you know (Sorry, I'm a cat lover)
3. Do you leave your computer on at night? Most people say yes. This is a bad habit. Kinda like leaving your keys in your car all the time. Sure, send out an invitation to take your computer out for a joy ride. Free reign for all for those little 14 year old geeks who like to hack into vunerable, innocent computers at 2 in the morning. Don't you realize that the little hacker wannabees accross the globe can get into your system while you're sleeping? Turn the damn thing off. Take an extra 2 minutes to boot your computer when you need it.
4. Wireless in your house? Yes? Is it secure? Of course not, silly me.
5. Have you backed up your data lately? Burn CDs, save to floppies, anything, just make a point to do it ever few months or so, at least.

Well, I can't tell you how many computers I work on in the course of a day. I have 180 PCs at work plus 180 users and their home computers. I love my job, most days anyway.

Time for me to turn off the spiffy new laptop I bought for my husband. I wonder if he realized that he's been taking an empty laptop bag to work. He has a habit of carrying more bags to work than most women. Maybe my next rant will be about habits... that could be very interesting. Don't worry, I love my husband deeply, I'll try not to pick on his habits too much. :)