Eddie Arthur, The Computer Guy

Coming from upstate NY and growing up mostly in Florida, I moved to Fort Collins in 1987 after high school in search of a return to four seasons and soft grass. After graduating from CSU in 1994 with an English Lit. / Creative Writing degree I figured I was doomed to selling poems in the park. But, while at CSU I had worked part-time in the computer writing lab helping students navigate Word Perfect and MS Word. The confidence I gained over computers, and my continuing initiative led me to being hired as phone tech support at Verinet and then Front Range Internet when I moved back to Fort Collins after two years in Manhattan. By 2000, I went into business for myself offering free house calls and fair prices as The Computer Guy.

The Computer Guy Mission

I believe in a pragmatic approach. I often hear from people that they are just “not technical,” or they were “born in the wrong generation to understand computers.” I disagree. If you can accomplish the tasks that you like to do on your computer, then you have won the only battle there is. Don’t worry about the things you don’t know. Trust me, we all struggle with computers, because they are largely still stupid, maddening, and only getting worse.

Imagine a Star Trek episode.
Spock asks COMPUTER an urgent question while being attacked by the Romulans.
There is a long pause.
Kirk, impatient, looks over at Spock.
COMPUTER voice finally responds, “Working.
. . . rebooting.”
Scotty, frantic over the intercom: “Captain! That crazy computer has gone and turned off the warp engines to do a bloody update!”
Kirk condescendingly, “Well Scotty, override the update and get those engines back on!”
”Aye Captain, I would, but the computer says, ‘Working on Updates - Don’t Turn Off Your Computer.’ ”
”Scotty, if you don’t get those engines back on 430 men and women on this ship will die!”
Closeup on Scotty’s panicked face, ”Captain, there’s no way to turn off Windows 11 Updates!”
Dramatic music.
Cut to commercial.

I encourage my customers to give themselves a break and understand that they belong to the generations that are still dealing with unintuitive, buggy software that lacks an elegant, unified theory. After recalibrating your expectations, I’ll provide the tools and perspective to make your relationship with computers less stressful and annoying.