To remain simple is to remain alive

Computers provide a very easy way to work your way into a complex nightmare of a network.

You buy one computer and then it all snowballs from there. Eventually you find yourself connecting your desktop to your laptop to your PDA to your cell phone to your TV to your microwave! And of course the only task you cannot get done is the one thing you are trying to do because the entire system is going up in flames!

The Trick Is To Not Become a Net But Rather a Chain.

Having a bunch of technology items linked together is perfectly acceptable these days. You, however, have to remain safe from the nightmare that comes from the complexity in networking everything together. As a technician I am constantly thinking of how to remove pitfalls in technology. The #1 way I go about doing this is to remove the network like nature of technology.

Computers, cell phones, everything likes to think in a network, the idea is that if everything can connect to itself then everything will have access to the data within everything else at any given time. This thought process is flawed.

The Chain System

The secret to greatly simplifying your life is to work with computers like chains with links. Instead of allowing all of your programs to start up at once you only allow them to open up when the program you are using requires them.

The chain begins with a master program, or master computer, and then goes one link at a time down the chain to the bottom of the chain. The reasoning behind this is relatively simple. You are converting a network of software that is attempting to work in tandem with itself into a flowchart of simple tasks. The master link is the only one that is allowed to exist and then as it needs it requests the next link in the chain to activate which in turn requests the next link in the chain.

There are several benefits to such a system:

• When a link fails to operate as expected, you know the problem right away instead of trying to track it down through a complex network of technology.
• Less is going on at any given time which puts you in greater control of your system.
• The only programs which will be active will only be those that you know were told to be active. (As a generality, not a hard-fast rule.)

This is a HUGE advantage over the network method which just serves to break things and confuse you at the same time.

How To Implement The Chain System

• Evaluate where you have complex networks in your house and on your computer.
• Going through one network at a time, remove everything you can (without losing any information) and then set it back up from the beginning setting a master link and then giving permissions to everything else one at a time. Only allow one or two parts of the chain to be running at any given time.
• Talk to your LCG and get him/her to explain the chains he/she setup on your system. If they work in nets then point them to this post. Networks are a nightmare by nature, setting things up as a chain aids in problem solving and releasing resources which would otherwise be taken.

This abstract rule will help you in many common computer situations. The idea is to run your computer as light as possible. The less going on at any given time, the less going on that could harm your system.

God Bless,
-Daniel Kolansky