[dba-Tech] Wannabe Techies (was: Outlook question)

Hi John

Don't tell that to the Mac fan-boys. They may have improved, but I clearly remember one having a Macintosh - the original standup with the tiny b/w built-in tube - that he regularly (every month or so) reinstalled completely to have "fresh files" ... After asking what that was about, I suddenly understood that he firmly believed that the files on the harddrive slowly vanished over time.

It's in the category with the hi-fi nerds who believe in rectified(!) silver molecules in speaker cables and audible acoustic (physical) feedback to a cd-rom in a cd-rom drive (remotely and theoretically possible, of course, but not at a level where you are able to be present in the room). I need air.

/gustav


>>> john at winhaven.net 11-12-2009 16:40 >>>
Some people who consider themselves "techies" never let go of old procedures
and can't be convinced that they should. A very arrogant fellow I know (on
university staff) I know still reformats and reinstalls windows every year
because that was considered by some to be a good practice back in Windows 95
days. I doubt he will ever stop doing this.

I optimize and rejuvenate PCs all the time and in ten years have probably
had to reformat and reinstall a dozen times. That's generally caused by a
bad infection that someone else tried and failed to remediate, not because
windows needs it. He doesn't care because some "expert" recommended that he
do what he does and I'm certainly not as much of an expert because I don't
have my PhD.