Not an obsession, dude ... at least, not on my end.
But in my line of work, there are three contributing factors that force people to bring their computers to me for repair, more than any others. Dirt, heat, and user error. I've seen hundreds of dirty, proprietary machines with inadequate cooling solutions. The users are normally complaining of data loss, or that a component stopped working, or that the system won't boot. And if they attempted to "fix it" themselves ...
As you can imagine, that costs them their hard-earned cash, because I don't work for free.
While I like making a living, at the same time, I really dislike charging a customer because of poor maintenance, or because of unfamiliarity with the inner workings of a computer.
And that's why I do my best to educate a someone, and give them the best advice possible.
You should appreciate this scenario ... the computer advice that comes from the user's friend, who often knows just enough to be "dangerous". Familiar enough with a computer to hand out advice that has the ring of truth, but who also happens to be slightly misinformed on certain subjects. And so, there's another aspect to my job ... re-educating people with long-held convictions on various aspects of computing, all because their friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc ... told them otherwise.
You quickly learn, when doing PC repair, that the best defense is a good offense.
Unfortunately, most people treat computers like a typical household appliance. They buy it, plug it in, and expect it to work. Like a refrigerator. And if you mention anything related to learning about the machine, eyes begin to glaze over, and you're presented with an all-too-familiar pained expression which normally precedes a massive migraine. But computers don't do just one thing, like a refrigerator ... they do thousands of things. And so, there's another aspect of my job I confront daily ... educating people on the importance of becoming educated.
Which is normally forstalled by Billy Joe Bob, Jr (i.e. the cousin, the neighbor, the co-worker, the friend) who lives just down the road, running a four-year-old Compaq with dust bunnies inside the can the size of my fist who "has never, ever had any kind of problems".
In reality, Billy Joe's machine usually has nine different viruses, hard-locks every time he opens Word, and spontaneously reboots several times a day. He just doesn't mention it. Of course, he blames it all on Bill Gates. But he also thinks it's "normal", and that it is a waste of time to learn anything new. He just doesn't worry about it. And he's managed to communicate this valuable opinion to everyone around him.
Tech Support people just "love" talking to Billy. Thank God you can't cause someone's brain to implode by just thinking about it, huh?
The hardest thing to "fix" when working in PC repair? The user. And therein lies the entire point to any implied sarcasm in my post. You see, it's not an ego thing ... it's a computer thing. It's not about having an opinion; it's about getting factual information out to someone who has a problem.
See ya ...
Toejam31
<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847</A>
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<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>