Tweaking My System

Yesterday I indulged myself in the luxury of spending my off day tweaking my computer system to make it more suited to my needs. Tweaking is a 21st century indoor sport that takes both a spirit of adventure and a courageous willingness to step into the unknown, not to mention a sizable block of time to play the game. Those folks who have gotten burned when they tried this indoor sport have sworn off it for the remainder of their lives, avowing to live from that day forward by those twin maxims of the status quo, "leave well enough alone" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But those of us who have tasted some of the fruits of these efforts and become intoxicated with the heady delight of seeing even a minor change make your computing life easier or more convenient have become addicted to the pleasure and the sense of accomplishment that comes from a successful tweak.

I realize that many people want to buy a computer, plug it in, and have it work "right out of the box." And, of course, such computer systems are increasingly available, even in the PC world. (MAC users have long touted the virtue of this orientation.) And for those people who want or need such a system, God bless their little pointed heads, I am happy for them to have it. But they don't know what they are missing.

Tweaking your own system by adding and learning new programs or by modifying how the programs already installed on your system work helps you know what the system can do. It helps you understand how to take full advantage of the power of your computer. It prepares you for solving problems when something goes wrong, because few of us can tweak the system without encountering some glitch that has to be resolved. But just as strenuous exercise builds muscles and overcoming difficulties builds character, resolving glitches enriches your understanding of what can go wrong in a computing environment and how to overcome it when it does. It requires you to explore the sources of help available on the Internet and, believe it or not, within the help files of the program you are working on. And once you've discovered where those lifelines are located, it emboldens you to extend your experimentation into even more uncharted territory. Tweaking, I think, is good for the soul.

During my adventure yesterday, I added a macro utility program called PowerPro, and I upgraded my email program, TheBat!, to the latest version, 1.60q. Despite the fact that acquiring a new program such as PowerPro necessitates a lot of reading of help files and means you have to exercise your brain to try to understand new ways of doing things, such activities add not just the capability the new program brings to your environment but also increases your ability to assimilate new understandings of how things can be done. In the end, the benefits accrue geometrically. Computing becomes more fun, and the future offers the promise of other exciting discoveries and challenges.
- posted by Perry @ 8:05 AM