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.
A failed self-parking demonstration gives Dr. Dave a sharp rule for high-stakes technology: check claims made by Microsoft, Google, Fiat and Volvo—and check his claims too. His humility distinguishes ordinary radio error from systems whose failures can put lives at risk.
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Processor launch leads to Dr. Dave’s practical principle of waiting for prices and reliability to settle instead of paying for status.
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After the Palm call, Dr. Dave says every phone and operating system involves compromise; Evil Steve turns the observation into a comic argument that people would not know how to behave if a device finally gave them everything they wanted.
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A sustained disagreement in which Dr. Dave defends choice, accepts some criticism and remembers criticizing Microsoft on a 1991 show. Preserve caller’s rebuttals and Dr. Dave’s explicit uncertainty about programming details. Reported corporate conduct remains attributed, not independently proven.
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Patrick’s Mac reminder prompts playful teasing and an explanation of why Windows attracts attacks. Include explicit acknowledgement that Macs have security issues.
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A drive-reliability study gives Dr. Dave another reason to urge listeners to back up. He and Evil Steve recall difficult recoveries where small equipment changes made a surprising difference, sometimes making success feel like black magic.
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Dr. Dave begins with his own stories of receiving the wrong computer memory and calling a manager from inside an understaffed store, then tells a reported case in which a disputed installation fee was paid with fifty-seven two-dollar bills and the customer was detained until the money was judged legitimate. The story combines consumer frustration, customer-service judgment and the brothers’ humor.
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With only seconds left, Dr. Dave refuses to put the remaining callers on air merely to cut them off. He would rather leave their questions for another time than do them the injustice of pretending they can receive real help before the show ends.
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Doris calls back after Dr. Dave missed her email and explains that she and her husband found a working solution online. Dr. Dave apologizes, thanks her for reporting the result and agrees that persistence, careful searching and learning from other people can solve problems that one expert does not reach in time.
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An unexpected charge worries James, a new computer user. Dr. Dave investigates, admits what he cannot verify and explains how to document and dispute the charge without giving up control of his computer.
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Dr. Dave complains that technology publications repeatedly give products nearly identical high scores, leaving readers without the plain warning that something is not worth buying. The passage captures his preference for honest evaluation over industry hype.
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Comparing Vista’s memory requirements with the computers people already own, Dr. Dave refuses to treat Windows 98 users as inferior and jokes that staying with an older system can sometimes mean they are smart. He advises listeners not to rush onto the Vista bandwagon and to understand the real hardware cost first.
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Dr. Dave demonstrates a Windows 8 preview interaction in which clicking a visible thumbnail activates the icon underneath it instead. Because years of computer use teach people to point at the thing they want and click it, he calls the behavior non-intuitive and a fundamental misreading of how people think.
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Sandy worries that an unseen keylogger might defeat her careful browsing habits. Dr. Dave acknowledges the risk but rejects living in fear: use sensible protections, update and scan them regularly, then stop worrying unless the computer gives a real reason to investigate.
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Blind caller Daryl explains that visual CAPTCHA and image-based contact information can make a website impossible for him to use, and Dr. Dave immediately acknowledges the flaw in his earlier advice. Their discussion moves from audio alternatives to accessible currency, with Dr. Dave listening carefully, admitting what he does not know and thanking Daryl for expanding the show’s understanding.
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A client’s failed laptop inspires Dr. Dave to list the steps he believes should happen as soon as a computer comes home: consider coverage, insure a laptop, organize every record and protect recovery media. He ends the countdown by declaring that the number-one computer task is flossing.
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A question about unreadable recordable discs leads from the importance of closing a session to a larger point about compatibility. Dr. Dave remembers an era with four or five competing operating systems and agrees that standardization made ordinary purchases easier, yet even something as simple as a disc session shows how small details can still defeat seamlessness.
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A caller notices that Dr. Dave has said something favorable about Microsoft despite his criticism of Vista. Dr. Dave answers that “what is, is”: it would be dishonest to pretend the company is right when it is wrong or wrong when it is right, so the show tries simply to tell the truth.
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After an extended attempt to work through hosted services, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve reduce “the cloud” to Internet-based storage and applications and compare its marketing glow with the dot-com label, warning that terminology can put buyers in a fog.
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Dr. Dave reconstructs a difficult repair involving heat, incorrect memory and malware, then describes the pleasure of returning a machine that worked better than its owner expected instead of letting it be discarded.
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When a provider's app and telephone representative both say nothing is wrong but a client is completely offline, Dr. Dave sometimes gets in his truck and looks for the technicians working nearby. He recalls politely asking field crews, learning that major outages were real and even finding crews repairing the ISDN line before an old Saturday broadcast.
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The repaired cable lowers the noise but the clockwork reboot returns. When a second support team says the detailed logs cited earlier do not exist, Dr. Dave escalates politely, then finds the modem evidence himself rather than filing a complaint or accepting an unsupported answer.
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Dr. Dave describes modern hard drives as “Mission Impossible” drives that may destroy themselves after very little use. He has opened failed units and found only dust where recoverable data should have been, giving his backup warnings a compact and memorable physical image.
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Caller Daryl explains how image based verification prevents blind people using screen readers from reaching ordinary Internet services. Dr. Dave listens as Daryl describes PRWeb adding an accessible alternative within one week, praises the company and offers the radio show as another way to put pressure on less responsive services.
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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.
