your-bytes-my-insights, your Tech blog for Computing Success

AZHeritage.net is proud to host Your Bytes & My Insights. A new way to learn how to catch up on current best practices from an IT professional, find tricks, and share stories on how to turn what most people see as technology roadblocks into your success stories. Our host for Your Bytes & My Insights is a 30-year IT professional with teaching, instructing, technical writing, leadership, non-profit and corporate, as well as civil service experiences to help you find success.

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Michael Clement

"We Choose to be happy rather than it be a result of favorable circumstances." Well, that often must be a choice when your computer is glitching out or just plain not working the way you need it to. Have no fear!

It happens to Everyone! So you are not alone. The most inconvenient thing about modern technology is that it has advanced quickly and has no manual. A curious user can download instructions on how this or that works, but you won't be in the loop unless you're reading up on the latest and greatest every day. So, nowadays, non-IT professionals ask their kids or grandkids, in the case of my boomer mother. They have grown up with technology. We didn't.

I grew up in the 90s and remember playing outside and learning how the first affordable PCs worked to get games to work. This was back when the world was not so plug-and-play.

Even with their modern-electronic upbringing, kids may know HOW to use these modern gadgets, but they are not taught WHY they work. In one instance, while working for the City of Tucson IT department just a few years ago, I had a tech-savvy college intern under my supervision. He was getting a video card to work, and after swapping it out for several spares, he stated he just needed to reimage the whole machine. I asked him if he had reviewed the video card system resources to see if there was an Operating System conflict. He was super confused and looked at me like I was speaking Klingon. I think.

It dawned on me that although he attended college classes ... he wasn't learning the basics. They teach plug-and-play computing.

Once, I showed him where and how to find the system resources, and after a few months of showing him tricks to quickly repair or fix issues, I had a fan, which still makes me laugh. It was basic knowledge, but he and other interns I would have working for me would look at me with starry eyes when I pulled out some "old school" tricks. After he rotated away from my area, he would still follow up with me with questions, and soon, other interns were revering him like a tech god. Because he now knew more than plug-n-play!

Follow Your Bytes and My Insights for stories and tricks on making technology work for you at home and business. Drop questions and inquiries or situations you have questions about and would like to see covered in further posts. I'll be dropping techs and tricks. You might otherwise have to pay onsite techs to research or fix them on the subscriber channel. I'll post on free-view posts when these are available and what content they will cover. The subscriber fee for AZheritage is $5/month, which includes stories, photos, and unavailable discounts unless you subscribe.