try defragging your weblog
You know what I don’t miss? Being the guy who keeps your computer working. 
Not that I didn’t enjoy that when it was my profession – I’m sure you’ll agree that one should take a certain pride in fixing things, and lord knows I would typically run shrieking away from the more traditional repairs that involve plumbing or tools or protective eyewear, so being good at an act that transforms something useless to something functional is nice, for me. Getting paid for making sure people could print or whatever was a hilarious and satisfying twist in my career path, if not exactly one I would have foreseen.
Did you know that I won the math award in grade six? Once upon a time, I was supposed to work in numbers. And did you know that I was accepted into a journalism program at that college in Oakville whose name I forget, when I outlasted high school? Once upon a time, I was supposed to work in sentences. Both LOL-worthy facts from the past, when I look at them now.
Today I work in keywords, and pointy brackets, and timing. The business of ‘online marketing’ (picture the author gesturing at nothing in particular for emphasis) is the most fun sort of job to have, I think. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t still take an interest in making computers work – kind of need them to, both on my end and yours, in order for my cheques to clear.
Here’s a few things I’ve spotted on the subject of making computers work that are worthy of your attention:
- Windows maintenance tips: the good, bad, and useless deconstructs a bunch of the old myths and legends of computer upkeep. Defragging your hard drive seemed like a savvy icon to click in Windows 95, but that was fifteen years ago, people. If you want your computer to be faster, buy and install more RAM (cheap and easy to do, by the way), then uninstall the programs you don’t use.
- Lifehacker also offers up the five best offline backup tools. If you use your computer for anything you want to keep – be it work, digital photos, your MP3s, anything important at all – you have to own an external hard drive. You can pick up something useful for less than a hundred bucks, you don’t have to install any software or open up your computer to use it, and you can set up one of the programs suggested above to automatically take care of saving the files you’re forgetting to back up. (I’m going to try Syncback this weekend.)
- Seven things Geek Squad employees wish every computer moron knew. #1 is a rehash of my last point, and the others are pretty good, too – lose that toolbar! You have how many antivirus programs? Jesus h. (Though I would say that point #8 here needs to be ‘if your computer is broken, Geek Squad is not your best choice for repairing it’.)
There. Keep all of the above in mind and you should be fine. If not, expect me to refer to the periodic table of swearing while I deal with you, Ysfs.