DaveMason.com
ComputerTalk with Dave Mason
The official archive of all available ComputerTalk with Dave Mason radio shows. Spend some time with Dave. Listen to a full show or explore clips by topic.
3,475 unique clips. Each clip appears in one section. Historical conversations, not current advice. Full episodes remain available separately by date.
1414 clips, strongest first.
Across two discussions, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve ask why phones emphasize games, ringtones and entertainment instead of better calls and productive tools, then wonder whether the market is changing or they are simply getting older.
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After caller Mark returns with the solution to a difficult printer problem, Dr. Dave thanks him for following up and says, simply, that he teaches and he learns. Mark answers that everyone encounters something new, preserving the mutual respect at the heart of the call-in show.
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At the end of a crowded show, Dr. Dave tells waiting callers he cannot fit them in and refuses to give them less than a fair answer. He offers to continue by email, says he does not want to ignore them and reminds listeners that without them there is no show.
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Returning to the client’s twenty-one-year-old spreadsheet, Dr. Dave respects an organization that kept a useful system running instead of upgrading for fashion. He also explains the cost of that choice: once a connected printer fails, modern replacements may no longer understand the old assumptions that made the whole workflow dependable.
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After a caller damages files by acting too quickly, Dr. Dave explains that his goal is independent, cost-conscious computer users, not dependence on experts. Independence still requires an honest assessment of skill and risk when irreplaceable data or a business is at stake.
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A caller’s supposedly standard hard drive setup fails in every expected configuration. Dr. Dave explains that computer industry standards often contain troublesome exceptions, weighs unusual experiments against risk and closes with the practical rule that troubleshooting has to deal with reality as it is, which is also what makes his work frustrating and rewarding.
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Caller Gil asks whether he can replace his own laptop hard drive, and Dr. Dave refuses to give confidence he cannot justify without knowing Gil’s abilities or data needs. He explains the physical and migration work, calls the job nontrivial and leaves the final judgment with the person who must accept the risk.
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Caller Kevin asks whether to modify a new Android phone himself, and Dr. Dave uses the question to explain that true technological independence includes an honest assessment of experience, patience, risk and the value of one’s own time before crossing into work that needs help.
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Ruth cannot explain exactly what a backup program changed, and Dr. Dave says plainly that he does not know what happened. Rather than wander through guesses indefinitely, he recommends falling back to an earlier system state and explains the larger consulting judgment: solving a problem may be technically possible, but not worth six weeks and a hundred hours.
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When Larry says two sons use Linux, Dr. Dave distinguishes his own enjoyment of tinkering from the needs of a person trying to get work done, making ease of use and available time part of the operating-system decision.
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Dr. Dave says a national show is no excuse for a rude call screener. Callers are listeners, listeners are the reason the program exists and anyone controlling access to the host should treat them with respect rather than turning the job into a power trip.
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One of Dr. Dave's sons says the nickname fits because helping people with computers is often more like psychiatry than technical work. His dad immediately agrees.
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John's question lets Dr. Dave state an enduring preservation rule: an online service is useful but cannot be the only copy, especially when it is outside the owner's control. He builds a layered plan for archival and changing material and admits that drives themselves fail.
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A caller wants every customer's product DVD to open automatically. Dr. Dave first reassures him that a troublesome result would not make him stupid, then separates controllable quality from the recipient's unknown player and configuration. Testing in three different programs is a responsible effort, but no author can make disc playback a hundred-percent prospect.
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Does everyone need a computer? Dr. Dave sees the benefits but respects people who choose otherwise. He recalls consulting jobs where the right recommendation was to buy nothing.
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Caller James has accelerated a dial up connection so aggressively that some pages no longer load. Dr. Dave suggests testing a slower setting and distills the tradeoff into one memorable line: nothing is slower than something that does not work, so reliable performance matters more than a maximum speed setting.
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Windows activation leads to Dr. Dave describing his stubbornness and habit of writing down information rather than trusting memory. Preserve his explicit statement that he is not reusing a license illegally.
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Dr. Dave initially has no clear explanation for Terry’s browsers freezing, while Evil Steve mentions memory or video trouble. When Terry reveals that QuickBooks once failed the same way, Dr. Dave explains how that one fact broadens the problem, checks the simplest possibility first and weighs repair cost against replacement without forgetting the data trapped on the old computer.
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Dr. Dave addresses the social pressure people feel when technology makes them believe everyone else is an expert. He tells embarrassed callers and clients that they are actually part of the vast majority, warns that people claiming to know everything may be bluffing and acknowledges that the environment is genuinely challenging.
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After describing IRS employees who gave passwords to callers posing as technicians, Dr. Dave says convenience cannot outweigh the value of an organization’s data or its employees’ jobs. He argues that every user is the first line of defense and should not surrender a password merely because a request sounds helpful or timely.
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When an older computer needs a processor, motherboard and incompatible memory before it can run a newer operating system well, Dr. Dave warns that piecemeal upgrading may cost more than replacing it. He weighs money, time, reliability and warranty rather than recommending work simply because it is technically possible.
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Robert jokes that “portable” sometimes means only that an item can be carried before it breaks, and Dr. Dave explains the counterintuitive design tradeoff that reducing weight can make mobile equipment more fragile than stationary equipment.
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A widower wants to notify his wife’s friends but cannot access her email account, and Dr. Dave admits he had never considered how much of a person’s life can become unreachable after death. Unable to promise access, he urges listeners to preserve important account information securely so a spouse or survivor can act when needed.
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Rod asks whether to delete suspicious files or quarantine them. Dr. Dave favors the reversible choice when uncertain because false positives happen and preserving an exit is better than painting oneself into a corner.
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Browse by year, then month, to find the episodes from that month.
442 proposed broadcast dates, plus 2 undated entries. Dates are based on archive filenames and may be approximate. Some broadcasts survive as separate parts or incomplete recordings.
