Editorial – August 2024: Too Much Reliance On Computers.
Hello everyone,
On 19 July, we saw how a computer program glitch caused problems across the world with airlines and anything connected to CrowdStrike and the Cloud. It needn’t have been Microsoft—it could have been any major software firm—so Mac users shouldn’t be too smug. This incident demonstrates how much we blindly rely on computers in our daily lives without questioning what they do or how to stop them in an emergency. How many of you wondered if your own computers would be affected when you booted up or how they connected to the Internet? I bet we were all nervous until the details were revealed.
It’s worth considering how major programs are written and protected, especially with the ability to easily revert to a previous version of the software—or the lack of it. When was the last time you used the Restore command in Windows to go back to a previous update? Windows 11 is vastly safer from that problem, but it also has massive updates fortnightly, and we’re not told what has changed. And it can’t just be me who notices how it also needs a second reboot or even a shutdown to get everything working properly, at least on laptops. Granted, there has to be caution in telling hackers what has been stopped from a security perspective, but it would certainly help to flash up on the screen what the updates are doing and what needs to be done.
How many of you tend to leave your laptops in sleep mode overnight and find there’s been an update while you slept? It’s convenient and saves time, but as I noted above, some updates require a reboot or even a shutdown to ensure everything works properly. I discovered that there are seven Windows 11 programs left in memory, and a shutdown is needed to reset and sort that problem out. So why can’t there be a simple message telling the user that a shutdown is necessary? Considering how much of Windows 11 is kept in memory, surely it’s a simple thing to set up a system that briefly switches to the hard drive version and resets that part of the RAM without compromising the system or security protocols.
The old technique of ‘CTRL, ALT, DELETE’ is no longer sufficient, but shutting down an entire system, such as on an aircraft, is hardly appropriate, given how long it might take to reboot in mid-air. Logistically, it would make more sense to have a backup computer system—hopefully not as up-to-date as the one in use but known to work—that could be switched over in an emergency. I doubt it would require a major rebuild, just a few cable adjustments to switch to a secondary system in case of emergency. Considering how much airplanes cost, a backup would be a minor expense. The same logic would apply to any critical computer systems to avoid what happened in July.
As computer geeks, we have an appreciation for systems but, hopefully, not to the point where we let them rule everything without knowing what to do or how to resolve issues in an emergency. If this had been an AI issue on 19 July, it could have spread across more systems and frozen the lot. I imagine confidence in computers would drop, but we’re so used to them now that people would probably struggle to manage without them, even for a short time.
When you consider that standard PCs only became commonplace in the mid-1990s and the Internet a couple of years later, it shows how far we’ve come in computer dependence in such a short time. The fact that computer technology can now fit into devices the size of a mobile phone is also telling. Many people use them for everything and carry their lives on them, even though they can be easily stolen. Once upon a time, people fretted if they lost or had their credit cards stolen. Now, losing a mobile phone that carries its own credit/debit card introduces a whole new level of stress, especially in urban areas where such thefts are common.
Few people know the ins and outs of the tech they use. I don’t even use an intricate mobile phone, so much of it is alien to me—my thumb joints are more akin to big toe joints.
I do know my own computers well enough to go through certain procedures when something isn’t right to get them working again. The classic one is the File Manager controlling so much. If your icons on the menu bar become unreadable or the file manager itself isn’t transferring files to a DVD drive, use the Task Manager to reload it, and you’ll be surprised how much is sorted.
Similarly, with Windows 11, the PrtSc function to make a copy of the screen was recently changed, so you had to pick from three options, although now the automatic option works again. Obviously, enough people complained to remedy that. Things like that should have been thought through from the start so there was a default option without needing to be asked.
The thing is, online solutions for various computer problems are a minefield because, although we have a default Windows 11, the changes for each computer’s hardware mean they don’t all look quite the same. We assume that when we have a fault, it only affects our own system and not others. There is no consistency, which we know is wrong. A valid solution would be consistent; otherwise, it’s like the elephant in the room. It might or might not do anything, but a reboot often sorts out a problem, and you don’t really know which actions are making the difference.
Even so, software manufacturers need to do better with their Help screens. It’s all well and good explaining what something will do, but they also need to explain variations and how to undo or remedy problems or offer other solutions.
The real problem is that when we see something going wrong, we assume it’s mostly down to us and not a widespread issue. For those of you who play Fortnite on a laptop, how often do you experience a general fault that causes your computer to reboot a few times unless you shut it down to counter it? Just be sure to regularly save anything important. I just wish I could figure out why there is a need for a critical reboot when it’s not a consistent fault. Considering faults are supposedly continually sent to Microsoft, you would think solutions would be addressed in updates.
For all computers in general, there needs to be a lot more transparency with updates and what they do, along with an easy reset process explained in case anything goes wrong. Complain enough, and something is bound to happen for the better…we hope.
Thank you, take care, good night, and never think your computer is alone when it can be updated.
Geoff Willmetts
editor: www.SFCrowsnest.info
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