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 caller asks for a utility mentioned on an earlier show, and neither host immediately remembers the name. During the call they search the newly posted archive, find the description and explain that listeners can read the notes or replay the original segment, demonstrating the archive as a working reference.
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Dr. Dave argues that a Mac's lower profile does not make it invulnerable. He compares trusting the brand without protection to driving a car with a safety reputation and deciding a seatbelt is no longer necessary.
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Dr. Dave agrees with a British advertising ruling that an LED-backlit LCD should not be sold simply as an LED television. A technical improvement may be worthwhile, but the label still needs to tell buyers what the product actually is.
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A small-business server question lets Dr. Dave describe two costly consulting failures: simplifying a problem until the solution is inadequate, or making it so elaborate that the client pays for complexity they do not need. His goal is the middle, combining what is actually required into the closest possible fit for the trouble and money spent.
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Dr. Dave describes returning to Dell for a longtime client only after the company improved from what he saw as a slide into mediocrity. His larger point is that the free market is uncomfortable but effective: customers communicate dissatisfaction by walking away and approval by returning when performance improves.
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After clients ask how infections happen, Dr. Dave explains that security cannot protect someone who knowingly authorizes a malicious download and warns that a third-party application appearing on Facebook is not proof it has been tested or approved.
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Dr. Dave describes a small business that had slowed almost to a stop while its technician searched elsewhere for the cause. The new network storage device was not misconfigured; it was simply too slow for the work it had been sold to perform, and recognizing that actual bottleneck opened the path to a practical replacement.
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When a client considers replacing her desktop with a tablet, Dr. Dave first asks what she wants to accomplish, points out that her couch-browsing description may fit a laptop and tells her to hold and try a tablet before buying it if the unfamiliar interaction feels right.
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The report of missing Los Alamos computers alarms Dr. Dave and Evil Steve less as lost property than as lost information, and they reject an institutional response that treats sensitive devices only as replaceable boxes.
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When a knowledgeable Linux user claims the platform has no viruses or vulnerabilities, Dr. Dave separates lower market exposure from invulnerability and stresses that even experienced users can mistake smaller risk for no risk.
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A MacBook Pro drive problem lets Dr. Dave separate playful brand rivalry from a serious point: no company's machines are immune to failure, and claims that a favored brand never breaks are foolish.
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After a hardware call, Dr. Dave distills his buying strategy into a memorable rule. Shop prices aggressively and find the least expensive option, but then back up one step rather than buying the absolute cheapest thing, because rock-bottom components too often become problems.
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Dr. Dave records the startling speed of the Conficker outbreak and uses it to explain why basic patching matters even when people believe other defenses will protect them.
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After refusing to repeat months of advance promises, Dr. Dave tests the IE9 beta for several days, praises Microsoft for learning from Chrome and Windows Vista, but still asks why a convincing Chrome-like browser should replace Chrome itself.
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Dr. Dave describes extortion emails that pretend either a hired killer will spare the recipient for payment or authorities found the recipient on a murderer’s list. He recognizes that the technical trick is less important than the criminals’ creative use of fear and human nature to make a victim reply.
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Using Windows AutoRun as a historical example, Dr. Dave explains a recurring design problem: a convenience feature can become a security weakness when attackers learn how to exploit it, and manufacturers then have to acknowledge and repair the risk.
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Dr. Dave argues that a laptop or removable drive carrying sensitive records must be encrypted because organizations repeatedly expose people when portable hardware is lost. Theft still means losing the device, but encryption can keep financial and client data from becoming public as well.
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A long Google Apps outage gives Dr. Dave a practical objection to putting every application and document on a remote server. He recognizes uses that synchronize local machines and create another copy, but rejects treating “cloud” as a magic new idea or fashion: if a meeting document exists only online, an outage can make it unreachable before the printer even has a chance to fail.
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Dr. Dave agrees that widespread data breaches threaten more than money, but places responsibility on both providers and customers. If people make security part of their buying decisions, he argues, even very large technology companies will notice and change—just as customer rejection had already pushed Microsoft to reconsider Windows.
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Dr. Dave recalls buying a MiniDisc recorder for radio work and being unable to transfer his own recordings except in real time because the system assumed the content was unauthorized. He connects that frustration to early copy protected software on five and a quarter inch floppy disks, arguing that digital rights management was repeating an older mistake that punished legitimate users and backups.
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An extended Amazon service outage gives Dr. Dave a concise reminder that even a company admired for reliability and infrastructure can fail, especially when an attempted improvement introduces new trouble.
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Reacting to a MacBook Air compromise at a security contest, Dr. Dave rejects the idea that one platform is immune from security and privacy problems. He repeatedly clarifies that the point is not to forbid buying the machine, but to look past advertising and make the decision with open eyes.
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The iPhone 3G launch has overwhelmed activation systems, but Dr. Dave says the temporary failure is not the only reason to pause. Buyers should compare real local coverage, battery life and the full two-year service cost; he still judges the new phone better, but tells listeners to resist the bandwagon and go in with their eyes open.
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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.
