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.
Claire's interest in a convertible tablet lets Dr. Dave distinguish appealing claims from firsthand experience, explaining that a promising idea may reveal cost, screen and durability tradeoffs only through real use.
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Even while praising Windows 7, Dr. Dave agrees that a caller with a working XP setup and no time for migration has made a sensible decision to wait.
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Dr. Dave distinguishes the availability of free technical tools from a person’s ability and desire to use them safely, and encourages honest self-assessment rather than embarrassment.
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Unable to explain a disabled recovery-media option, Dr. Dave admits he is baffled. A disk-image workaround might be good enough, but the unexplained failure could point to something larger; he describes the choice between moving on and methodically finding the true problem as a difficult, subjective judgment rather than pretending there is one universal rule.
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Asked how to hire technical help, Dr. Dave admits that seeing failures every day can make him sound negative, while insisting that many good technicians exist. He draws a clear line between an enthusiastic hobbyist and a professional whose judgment and responsibility can be trusted.
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A caller asks whether an Internet service can make a person completely anonymous and impossible for government to trace. Dr. Dave answers that privacy and security always exist in degrees, distinguishes ordinary use from becoming a specific target and warns that no user should assume one hundred percent anonymity against legal authority and real time monitoring.
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Dr. Dave initially suspects a laptop adapter, then pauses to confirm whether the caller means the power light or charge light and whether battery-only operation behaves the same way. The answers make him say he is glad he asked before “spouting” an irrelevant diagnosis; after openly admitting he is stumped, one more fact lets him identify a likely broken power socket and recommend professional repair.
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A specialist music-production setup leads Dr. Dave to distinguish likely compatibility from facts he cannot know and repeatedly direct the caller to the vendor with the exact product knowledge.
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Dr. Dave agrees with a caller who prevents maintenance tools from all running continuously. Even a powerful computer can become clogged quickly, so he argues for being ruthless about how many programs start automatically.
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Sandy asks how to follow command-line security instructions on her Mac. Dr. Dave explicitly says her intelligence is not in question; the real issue is whether she wants to become a hobbyist and spend substantial time and frustration learning the tool. His recommendation favors protection that fits her life over the technically interesting route.
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A fifty-year-old returning to college worries that any laptop will soon seem like the wrong choice. Dr. Dave says that regret is nearly inevitable in computing: use the best information available, make the decision, and avoid buying a machine so large that daily mobility becomes a burden.
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After a caller grows frustrated with removing security software, Dr. Dave identifies the arbitrary mental deadline that makes people abandon method and make a problem worse. He recommends calm, assertive patience, walking away when composure is lost, researching what others have learned and persisting. When praised as brilliant, he deflects the compliment: searching and learning from other people is the real method.
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When a caller asks whether he should replace an existing security suite, Dr. Dave resists changing a working setup merely because another option exists. He prefers addressing the demonstrated performance problem first instead of letting a broad recommendation create new trouble.
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A caller has entered the BIOS and changed several settings while trying to repair a display problem. Dr. Dave carefully explains that computer work demands a discipline he does not claim in every part of life: make one change, test it, know exactly what it affects and preserve a path back before moving to the next thing.
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Betty has upgraded, uninstalled, restored and removed programs while trying to repair her dial-up computer. Dr. Dave admits that even he gets tired of waiting and wants to jump ahead, but explains that changing several variables at once makes it impossible to know which action caused the new problem.
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Rick’s sound problem prompts patient troubleshooting, gremlin jokes and Dr. Dave’s story of a supposedly broken scanner with its transport lock halfway engaged. Preserve both the call and story to show the practical consulting principle.
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Returning caller Daryl describes a new Windows error tied to his unresolved reboot problem. Dr. Dave says he remembers encountering it but not the exact repair, so he will check his notes during the break before answering, an unusually clear example of accuracy taking priority over sounding certain on live radio.
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After caller Dr. Dave finally phones instead of emailing, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve explain that direct questions are the essence and original core of Computer Talk. They value new communication tools but say nothing replaces talking one to one with listeners live on AM radio.
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A caller fears that repairing an aging rebuilt computer will become an endless series of charges. Dr. Dave reconstructs the machine's true age, distinguishes a failed drive from a possible infection and says the decision to repair or replace should come only after those conditions are confirmed—otherwise a new computer may inherit the same infected data.
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A caller removing a processor fan leads to a funny but serious lesson about controlled force. Dr. Dave and Evil Steve remember wrestling with RAM and drive connectors on extremely delicate machines and describe how repair sometimes demands surprising strength even when the precise threshold between effectiveness and permanent damage is difficult to see.
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Bert's unreadable attachments lead Dr. Dave to a durable communication rule: tell the recipient what kind of file was sent so the person has enough context to open it or seek the right viewer.
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A caller jokes about Microsoft, Apple and open source rivalries, and Dr. Dave rejects all three camps. He wants what works, what he can afford, what is reliable and what produces the result he needs, praising open source where useful without pretending every system suits an average user.
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A recurring laptop power socket failure leaves Dr. Dave weighing repair against replacement. He says he hates throwing out a computer that otherwise works and has been paid for, yet honestly warns that this particular design weakness could return even after a successful repair.
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A caller asks whether tightening an old laptop hinge is within his abilities. Dr. Dave describes the delicate hidden clips and adjustments, recommends finding the service manual and then frames the real decision around what the aging computer is worth versus the chance of breaking it, declining to give a blanket blessing while respecting the caller’s urge to try.
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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.
