Computer glitches

I know one sure-fired way to shock my co-workers, family, and friends. All I have to do is say "I HATE computers!" and they stare at me, stunned, mouths agape, as this blasphemous statement falls from my lips. The look says "if YOU hate computers...well, well, gee... what are WE supposed to feel?" After all, I am the resident computer geek, digital diva, or whatever other techno-centric name you use to describe people like me. I am supposed to love computers, all the time, no matter what. News flash... I don't. Well, I do most of the time. But when it's what you do all day, every day, there are times you just don't want to have anything to do with them, especially when they're acting up. At work, they act up a lot. After all, we have in our network of 110 computers and 7 servers, computers ranging in age from 5 to 8 years old. They're tired. They need repair, rebuilding, or replacement. Guess whose job that is? I don't mind the replacement part - we're due to replace 1/3 of them in the next month or so (yippee!) - but I hate the repair and rebuild part. I've been doing that for over 20 years and I'm sick of it. I used to have a high school whiz kid working for me to whom I could delegate these tasks. He graduated and went off to college at a time when we were suffering a budget crunch so his position was dropped. The repairs and rebuilds fell back on my shoulders - along with managing the network, designing and maintaining the web site, planning for technology upgrades, participating as part of the management team, designing our brochures, acting as the resident photographer for all special events, making sure our network is operating efficiently and securely, training staff and assisting patrons with whatever software application needs they have, filing for e-rate monies, getting quotes for new hardware and software, and handling the phone system and everything to do with it. Think I have enough to do? So, is it any wonder that some days I really hate computers? I think not. Despite what non-techie people think, there isn't always a cut and dried reason when a computer acts stupid. The reason for the famous BSOD (blue screen of death) can almost always be determined, but the reason the computer just randomly locks up, won't restart, dumps you out of a program, or reboots for no apparent reason is not always discernible. Logs don't always get written to, and unless I'm standing there to see the chain of events leading up to the offending incident, I can't always determine the reason behind its erratic behavior - especially when it's a random occurrence. Everyone looks to me for the answers. They love it when I say "I have no idea." I think it makes them feel less technologically challenged. I have no problem admitting when I don't know something. I have a lot of answers, but not all of them. I can usually find the answers to most problems, but not always. When I can't, well, I can't. I just don't know the answer.

Warning - this is going to get technical... geek-speak alert!

Now, given the description of my responsibilities at work, how much computing do you think I do at home? Almost none. If I want to look up a fact or something, I will hop on the internet to check it out, but in the evening after work, I don't even fire up the PC - unless work calls. I do work from home, probably more often than I'd care to, but it beats driving back into town. I can remotely manage my servers, which I do when patches need to be applied and servers restarted since I can do that after we close. Aside from that, I really don't compute at home much. I do blog in the mornings before work once a week or so, but that's about it.

At home, I have a small network. I have a desktop that my son used until he got his "college computer" which is with him at Whitworth. I have a laptop that I use. I setup a wireless network so I can sit on the sofa and work if I have to. The desktop used to be connected physically to the network via the router while my laptop could connect via the router or the wireless access point. The desktop isn't currently connected at all, so just my laptop is using our cable internet connection via the WAP.

I have been experiencing constant "outages" lately. I would connect to a server at work or at the company for whom I provide network administration services as a consultant only to lose my connectivity for several seconds and then regain it. I has been driving me crazy! I didn't know if my cable connection was spazzing out, if my router was being stupid (it's had problems in the past) or what the problem was. So, today I decided to find out, once and for all. I was connected and started losing connectivity. I had gotten into the habit of opening up a command prompt and typing in "ping -t 192.168.1.1" and letting that run while I worked. What that does is send a constant "ping" to my router. When I would experience a lag in response on the remote server or web page, I would bring up that command prompt box to see the status of my ping. Invariably, the ping would be timing out. Okay... but is the problem with the router or my WAP? The only way to test that is to disconnect from the WAP and physically connect to my router and see what happens. Unfortunately, my 25 foot long cord is at work so I am sitting on the floor of my son's newly clean room (he didn't recognize it when he came home for a visit Sunday), laptop physically connected to the router with a 6 foot cord, pinging away happily while I type this. So far, so good. I appears the problem may be my WAP after all. That's not all bad. I have been considering buying a new wireless router, which would combine the features of my router and my WAP. Now my only dilemma is what brand to buy and whether to continue using 802.11a or go with 802.11 b/g. My wireless network card will handle all three protocols so that's not an issue. I chose 802.11a to begin with because it provides faster speeds (up to 108mbps), it operates on a less frequently used frequency, meaning less interference from cordless phones, for example, and fewer people use it so it's more secure. But I have noticed that the range is a lot smaller. I can't even go out on my deck and stay connected, but I can pick up some random 802.11g network from someone in my neighborhood... so, I'm pondering 802.11b/g so I can work outside when I want to. Then again, the interference issue is a concern since I use cordless phones that operate at 2.4GHz, the frequency used by 802.11b/g. I have yet to decide what to do. Product selection is a lot greater - and cheaper - in the b/g product range, but that's not a huge factor. Reliability, speed, and security are my biggest concerns. So, I'm still pondering. In the meantime, I'm going to keep testing this direct connection to make sure it isn't my router before I run out and buy new equipment.

Geez, it's 8AM already. Time to get ready for work. I feel like I've been working already. :S