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.
While evaluating the newly announced Microsoft Surface, Dr. Dave states a compact standard that runs throughout his work: he is not interested in change merely because it is new. If a change is better, it is better; the point is to judge the result rather than the novelty.
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Returning caller Julie tells Dr. Dave that a local technician replaced the computer she had struggled with and that the new system is working beautifully. Dr. Dave is pleased to hear that the long-running problem has finally been resolved.
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Bob asks how to preserve many different passwords, and Dr. Dave describes keeping an offline written record as a backup even when encrypted software is used. The lasting idea is not to assume that information stored on one computer will always remain there.
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A listener's proposed Google theme leads Dr. Dave and Evil Steve to explain that calls and suggestions can change the direction of Computer Talk. They welcome good contributions while joking that they still reserve editorial control.
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When an out-of-town buyer offers more than Dr. Dave requested for a used netbook, he recognizes that generosity costs a scammer nothing if the payment is fake and responds with a calm boundary: local buyers and cash only.
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A new-customer discount prompts Dr. Dave and Evil Steve to ask why long-standing customers should pay more, then propose that loyalty deserves equally good offers throughout the year.
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Asked whether security software can solve risky behavior on social networks, Laura Yecies says technology can limit access but cannot replace teaching, supervision and caution with strangers. Dr. Dave frames the problem as the combination of bad actors and people exposing themselves without understanding the risk.
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Caller Rudy returns because the detailed instructions Dr. Dave promised two weeks earlier never arrived. Dr. Dave locates the email while they are speaking, apologizes without deflecting and promises to resend the steps during the next break, showing accountability when an ordinary service detail falls through.
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A veteran asks about slides collected while traveling. Dr. Dave reassures him, discusses cost and effort, then acknowledges uncertainty about home movie conversion and promises research. Retain the whole call; equipment examples serve the preservation story.
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Dr. Dave tells Don that a good diagnostician starts with the most likely explanations instead of treating every theoretical possibility equally. He declines to recommend a risky BIOS flash without reliable visibility, asks the caller to report back and jokes that listener outcomes are part of how he keeps learning.
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Unable to find a personal information manager that fits his Linux experiment and reluctance to put everything in the cloud, Dr. Dave builds a small local system from spreadsheet tabs. A diary, time entries and a journal become fast, reliable and simple enough for him, even if he knows the solution is geeky and old-fashioned.
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A confusing purchase email looks like phishing until Evil Steve checks the retailer independently, reads carefully and contacts Dr. Dave; together they discover an account mix-up of their own making and resolve it without anyone losing information or money.
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Dr. Dave recalls spending weeks on a domain transfer that should have taken minutes, only to renew with the more expensive registrar before the name expired. He and Evil Steve turn the frustration into a Murphy’s Law lesson: the printer, transfer or computer often fails precisely when a deadline makes it indispensable.
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Evaluating a low-cost netbook, Dr. Dave calls it a good college machine for a parental reason students may not appreciate: it may be broken, stolen or covered in beer, so an inexpensive computer can be a more sensible tool than a gaming powerhouse. Evil Steve supplies the ninety-percent-games curriculum, and Dr. Dave concludes that this is why his kids hate him.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve ask how much productivity they must surrender to gain the promised benefits of connecting Twitter and Facebook, then note that internet users have become involuntary beta testers.
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At the launch of a major Windows release, Dr. Dave explains that he began skeptical, tested it for months and tried deliberately to break it before offering unusually enthusiastic praise. He also states his independence from brand and crowd loyalty.
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A question about 2005 predictions becomes a lesson in skeptical listening when Dr. Dave objects to reports calling holiday sales “down” even though they increased by less than analysts expected. Evil Steve turns the point into a joke about missing a weight-loss goal.
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A loyal listener accuses the show of sickening Apple bias. Dr. Dave answers that he respects and uses Apple products but rejects claims that any company can do no wrong, challenges the technology press when praise becomes automatic and insists that the brothers poke fun at everyone, including themselves.
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Dr. Dave remembers beginning in the late 1980s as a technology evangelist persuading reluctant businesspeople to embrace computers. After decades in the field, he says the negative side of technology had become too significant to ignore and that the program needed to help listeners wrestle with both promise and harm.
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Dr. Dave finally tells listeners they can call him for weekday help and explains the small practice plainly: there are few openings because clients receive his own on-site work, not an employee sent in his place.
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Previewing a Synaptics interview, Dr. Dave explains the standard behind his guest choices. Liking a product is only the first step; the real question is whether the technology can make a meaningful difference in his life or in listeners' daily experience.
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Dr. Dave explains that years of friendly conversations with a software developer let him suggest a quick-reply feature he admired elsewhere. Two days later the feature appeared in the developer's program, illustrating both Dr. Dave's practical influence and the relationships that grew around his work.
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Looking back at the preceding Test and Tune, Dr. Dave describes recovering a visitor's accounting data while he waited after the man had been quoted hundreds of dollars elsewhere, using the story to show the value of quickly assessing a damaged drive before making a larger decision.
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Dr. Dave tests a cheap, aging HP multifunction printer on an old Linux laptop and is genuinely delighted that printing, scanning and copying all work without adjustment, capturing his habit of testing claims on imperfect real-world equipment.
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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.
