I know from other social media that folks are wondering about things that happen on their computers.
Answering computer questions may not be worth the in-person session risk, but they don’t go away. In fact, cybercrime is up during the pandemic. Two cyber attacks in late 2020 and early 2021 are larger and more significant than anything I have seen before. News that an physical attack on a Saudi oil refinery has sent gas prices up this week, and I am reminded that Saudi refineries have been the targets of cyberattacks.
In addition, I know from other social media that folks are wondering about things that happen on their computers. Some issues are annoying, like spam in your email, others are scary, like activity that suggests you’ve been hacked, to just plain terrifying, like extortionary fraudulent emails.
Computer questions answered at the Ferndale Public Library
Until the pandemic lockdown began in March of 2020, my grandson, Christopher, and I held one hour public sessions at the Ferndale Public Library twice a month to answer computer questions. During these sessions we offered to try to help folks with any kind of computer problem. The problems ranged from annoying but minor email settings issues to high level discussions of XML data structuring for application interfaces. Both Christopher and I miss these sessions. We both like to help people, and, I’ll be frank, I think we both get pleasure out of showing off the knowledge of computing that we have accumulated.
Now that the grip of the pandemic is beginning to loosen a little, the possibility of reopening those computer questions sessions arises. My wife and I have each gotten our first vaccine injection and expect, following CDC guidelines, to begin mixing more in April.
Most likely not until Fall 2021
However, I don’t think it is realistic to expect sessions at least until fall of 2021. The vaccine statistics so far show the vaccines are effective at protecting people who are vaccinated, but there is not yet strong evidence that the vaccines stop the spread of the virus. The folks who study the course of the virus don’t know how many people have to be vaccinated to prevent unvaccinated people from continuing to get sick at high rates.
Having all that hurt condensed into a single year is difficult to comprehend.
The big question is when will vaccination prevent the virus from continuing to trouble our nation and the world? We have been troubled. More people are dead in one year of covid than from WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam combined. I’m old enough to know that those wars were hard on us. Having all that hurt condensed into a single year is difficult to comprehend.
For me, stopping the spread of the virus is as important as protecting myself. Until the spread is stopped, our economy will only limp along and none of us will live the lives we want and deserve. Therefore, I plan to do everything I can to stop the spread, not just keep myself and loved ones alive. That’s selfishness, not altruism!
On top of that, hands-on help with computer problems in a small conference room is probably one of the more hazardous things a person can do in the presence a deadly and contagious airborne virus. So we won’t be restarting in person sessions at the library until covid cases are down. Way down.
A new Computer Questions page
But I don’t want to leave folks in the lurch.
But I don’t want to leave folks in the lurch. Therefore, I’ve opened a “Computer Questions” page on this site. Just enter your questions in the Reply section of the page. I’ll get back to you in a comment or write a post if I think enough people will be interested.
I really hope this can become as lively, helpful, and as much fun as our sessions at the Ferndale Library.