Marshall Brain's Blog

---

Amazing Amount of Time Wasted Repairing Computers in December

During the month of December, I tried an experiment. Every time something went wrong with one of the computers here in the Brain household, I made a note of it in my blog.

My goal was to see how much time I waste in a typical month on computer problems/maintenance. Prior to this experiment, I had a vague notion that I was spending a fair amount of time on this kind of stuff. This experiment has brought the actual amount of time into sharp focus.

Having done the experiment, it is amazing to me how many problems a tiny home network can create. Over the course of one month, I logged 21 different errors/problems/activities that wasted time. Here they are:

• Repair #1 -- summary: Mom's printer driver -- time spent: 1 hour
  
• Repair #2 -- summary: Random error in Window's Media Player, had to reinstall -- time spent: 20 minutes
  
• Repair #3 -- summary: Windows XP security updates -- time spent: 1 hour
  
• Repair #4 -- summary: Another Windows XP security update -- time spent: 20 minutes
  
• Repair #5 -- summary: Microsoft Outlook crashes about once a week, but cannot update it -- time spent (in December): 1 hour
  
• Repair #6 -- summary: Had to load motherboard-specific XP drivers on kids' machine -- time spent: 4 hours
  
• Repair #7 -- summary: First notice of PC-cillin problem (see repair #20 for final resolution) -- time spent: 5 minutes
  
• Repair #8 -- summary: Spam overflowed disk quota on Leigh's server -- time spent: 15 minutes
  
• Repair #9 -- summary: Random application crashes that we all experience -- time spent in a typical month recovering from them: 30 minutes
  
• Repair #10 -- summary: Removing CNET download manager from system tray -- time spent: 1 minute
  
• Repair #11 -- summary: Helping friend with Microsoft Word config problem -- time spent: 5 minutes
  
• Repair #12 -- summary: Random GigaPocket buffer errors -- time spent: 15 minutes
  
• Repair #13 -- summary: Weird QuickTime error dialog -- time spent: 10 minutes
  
• Repair #14 -- summary: Forced to upgrade MSN messenger -- time spent: 10 minutes
  
• Repair #15 -- summary: Leigh trapped by nested pop-up ads -- time spent: 10 minutes
  
• Repair #16 -- summary: Have to kill rogue IE sessions occasionally -- time spent: 2 minutes
  
• Repair #17 -- summary: Incessant reminders about a non-problem -- time spent: 2 minutes
  
• Repair #18 -- summary: Bad Cheerios game CD results in Christmas trama for Irena -- time spent: 15 minutes
  
• Repair #19 -- summary: Router or cable modem problems -- time spent: 10 minutes
  
• Repair #20 -- summary: Forced upgrade of PC-cillin and insane install process -- time spent: 1 hour
  
• Repair #21 -- summary: Time Warner Internet blackout -- time spent: 30 minutes (blackout lasted 8 hours)
  
• GRAND TOTAL TIME WASTED THIS MONTH: 11 hours, 20 minutes

11 hours and 20 minutes is a lot of time, but I would consider December to be a fairly "normal" month for me. I had a problem roughly every 36 hours. And this does not include "normal stuff" like the time wasted deleting spam messages that make it through the filters, or clearing pop-up ads (Google's ad blocker is a nice piece of software for eliminating most of that), or loading software that I actually have purchased and want to use, etc. This is just the time wasted on abnormalities, repairs, problems, etc. that cropped up on a random basis.

If you were to extrapolate this across all of the computer users in the nation, it would add up to millions and millions of wasted man-hours every month. For example, I have a friend at this moment who is reloading OS-X and all her applications on her Mac for the third time this year (a 2-day to 3-day process). I have another friend who is getting cut off from email every week or so and has to reload all the settings. As I mentioned, my mother had a hard disk crash in November that took several days to recover from. And so on. It is just amazing how much time we, as a nation, are wasting on this kind of stuff.

Here are some suggestions for how things could get better:

• Microsoft could make just one change – it could eliminate the need to reboot after installing many different types of software – and save the nation millions of man-hours per year.
• Microsoft could create one-click installation procedures and save millions more man-hours.
• Microsoft could build a system that automatically finds and loads drivers over the Internet and save millions more.
• This whole thing with EULAs, legal notices, etc. is just nuts. No other product space in the U.S. has this. For example, I can buy a tankful of gas, with the equivalent explosive power of 40 sticks of dynamite, and I don't have to sign anything. I can buy powerful pharmaceuticals, pesticides and solvents without signing anything. I can buy anything I want at Wal-Mart with total anonymity. But anything with a computer is just the opposite. We should eliminate EULAs.
• We should consider letting consumers bill companies for wasted time.