Coopernundrums

    Ah the doldrums of late winter.  I sit writing this while my mind pines away for the sunshine and warmth of spring.  I am sure many of you reading this feel the same way.  Thinking of what to write has been tough lately, but today I had a fun thought and in a flash knew what this post would be about.

    Being a technophile means I will never be without work, thankfully. That being said here is a list of the invaluable tools that I believe every card carrying  computer geek needs to do their primary job and of course al the side work we have as well.

The trusty USB Thumb Drive

Unless you just enjoy hauling a 9 pound brick of a laptop with you everywhere you go, having a small key chain, compact USB flash drive is a lifesaver.  I have one that is 32 GB large.  No “mine’s bigger than your’s” jokes, please.  I have mine set as a bootable device with a whole cavalcade of recovery and “fixer” programs.  I never leave home without it and I have everything I need to get any PC up and running with me at all times.

Dedicated Web Space

You might think this is more of a luxury than a tool, but I assure you in times of need having a virtual medium out there on the World Wide Web that you can send files to and retrieve files from ANYWHERE in the world is an INVALUABLE tool.  When the old thumb drive is full or cant be used, say on a PC with no USB ports free, this tool is my “go to GUY”.

 FTP Program

Well, if you have web space out there in the virtual world you have to have a way to get to it right?  A good QUALITY File Transfer Protocol program is a true necessity.  I won’t go into my likes and dislikes about FTP app cause I have some quirky needs.  What I will say however is make sure you try out several programs before you settle on one you will stick with for a while.  Lots of great freeware programs for this but beware many of the free ones are garbage.

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  I work with computers and all their various sundry components, parts and accessories all day every day.  Being a PC Jockey makes me quite attuned to the health of all these parts of a whole usually.  Last week I lost a good buddy. My trusty HP 1200 Series Laser-Jet printer passed on.  That little guy and I met some ten years ago when I first got the job I have currently.  He was moved in with me because of space issues elsewhere in the building.  We have shared an office ever since.  He was always there for me, the quick print, the lengthy technical document, all those years of printing and reprinting revisions on installation instructions and email newsletters.  Thick and thin we have been through it all.  Last week i needed to print an invoice for a customer and the little guy let out a horrible death rattle and then with his last breath he screamed in agony as gears stripped and his functions slipped away.

    It really didn’t hit me until this week that he was really gone.  I needed to print out a list of files.  I hit the print button before I thought about it and sat staring sadly at the small grey and white plastic derelict sitting there in his usual place.  He made no sounds and didn’t wink at me with his little green light to let me know the print was on its way.  I had to move him out of our office and into the computer graveyard that is our storage room.  That’s where all the dead printers gadgets, consoles, and hardware goes when they have met their maker.

    The next time you use a piece of trusty hardware don’t take it for granted.  Work like there is no tomorrow and give  the Hardware Heroes the praise and admiration they deserve, because..

…you never know when they might kick the proverbial computer bucket and wont be there to back you up anymore.

  As I shuffled through all my sundry computer components that I have collected over the years I ran into caches of floppy disks in at least three different places.  This made me wonder what I could have been thinking at the time I hid them all away like a large, burley, somewhat pale hamster.  I mean I seem to have bought enough “floppies” to last me a life time.

  Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, ahem… I mean, long ago when I was first getting into computers it seemed like I was ALWAYS in need of a floppy.  Showing my age, I can remember when they were the only way to get files from computer A to computer B without having both hooked into a network.  My, how times have changed.  Nowadays those of us in the tech industry never leave home without our tiny thumb drives.  I count no less than 4 hanging off my key ring even now.  All range in size from a massive 32 Gigabytes down to the lowly 4 Gigabytes.  Lets us compare this to the humble floppy which can only hold a measly 1.5 Megabytes.

  My question now is this; since I don’t have a floppy drive in any of my 4 PCs what the heck am I holding on to all these disks for?  Do people still buy floppy disks?  I guess I need to look into the best way to recycle them since it looks like I won’t ever need them again.  I am more than a little sad to see my buddies go.