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BBC Writer Tries PC Repair, Finds Poor Software
twitter writes "BBC author Paul Rubens tried out amateur computer repair and wrote about it. All of the software was for Windows, and he finds what most of us do: "Most of the problems I've been called to look at have been caused by viruses and spyware, some by strange software [conflicts], and only one by faulty hardware." He then flames the whole world of computer repairmen as 'a bunch of unqualified amateurs.'"
It seems incredible, but millions of families and thousands of businesses have no-one to turn to but a bunch of unqualified amateurs to fix the most complicated pieces of equipment that have probably ever existed.
I've always heard that the UK is culturally very hostile to IT. I guess now I know for sure.
Computers cannot subtract, they cannot multiply and they cannot spell check a document.
Computers can add binary numbers, and that is all.
Computer software exploits this ability with some clever logical gymnastics to give us the "Computer Appliance" that we enjoy today.
This fellow appears to have some difficulty discerning what is a computer, what is computer software, and what is a Rogue Windows exploit.
There is only one entity to blame here. Microsoft, for producing a weak Operating System.
"He then flames the whole world of computer repairmen as 'a bunch of unqualified amateurs.'"
I've known this for 25 years..
I've been repairing computers since waaaaay back, back before the IBM PC.
In the early 80's, we were GODS... We were the elite few, we were the "healers"...
We had to isolate a single flaky 64k ram chip on an AST (384k) 6-pack, or the 256k motherboard and replace it. That was nothing. I could read the POST error messages and know the exact chip out of the 90 possible chips. We had to isolate and repair defective capacitors in CRT's or replace printheads in dot matrix and keep continuous duty band printers running.
A soldering iron was always on in our shop, we REPAIRED things. We didn't play swaptronics like these kids nowdays do. We had to hunt down and repair problems..
I remember one dufus at a drafting company had decided to hop up his compaq deskpro 386 Autocad station all on his own without permission. It was company property but he wanted to be the unauthorized office superhero so he ordered a $900 80387 from Compaq then tried to install it himself. True brilliance, he installed it 90deg off and it cooked. It melted the legs into the socket and the mobo was dead. In a total panic he brought the machine to me and I told him that there was not much chance of repairing it but I would try. I found a replacement 80387 socket so I fired up my desoldering station and after many tedious hours, I removed and replaced the cooked socket and the mobo was back in biz.
It cost him $900 for the first 80387, then $400 for me to repair the mobo, then another $900 for another 80387. The next one, he let me install it for him, I only charged him $20 to install the chip. The chips, he ordered those on his employers dime so he had to choke up $900 out of his on pocket to replace the chip he trashed.
This was back about 1986, when $900 was a healthy chunk of change and a 20mhz 80386 system was still a few grand.
Now, no one fixes anything, they swap some suspect crap around and chunk the suspect.
Hell, I even did hard drive salvage, back in the days of 10mb to 20mb drives. It was nothing unusual for me to open a drive up with siezed bearings and move the platters into another drive to get the data off. It was a one shot deal but I did it on numerous occasions. I had no fear of taking on ANY level of repair.
Now, you have numbnuts like these "Geek Squad" morons at Best Buy who can't find their own asses without both hands and a flashlight. Most of them have never once held a soldering iron, they don't know crap. They might be able to diagnose a dead PSU or a dead HDD or an unplugged display but they are really just junior grade virus cleaners.
As the story tells, most problems are caused by windows. MOST computer "repair" now involves cleaning up windows problems..
These kids these days, they are NOT technicians... I was REPAIRING computers before most of these "techs" were even born...
Nothing offends me more than to go into best buy and some kid starts trying to chat me up with his buzz words, trying to impress me to make me think he's some sort of guru. I'll shoot him down in flames in 30 seconds or less. Last time I went in best buy I came close to punching the little asshole, I ended up going to the manager and filing a complaint, the kid followed me around the store harassing me about windows, I had asked if a particular part was Linux compatible and he went psycho on me..
Really, Windows itself is what keeps these places going, there really is very, very little actual "repair" going on anymore..