Why am I having to do this?

So a pleasant long-weekend in which I tried to do as little as possible gets interrupted by a call familiar to all who work in tech support "The internet's not working" yep that's right the vast system of interconnected computers, routers etc. had crashed... or perhaps not. No it was of course the 'I'm typing in a web address and it can't find it' problem.

So I went through the usual check-list, is it just that one site - no, is it connected - yes, can it get the server address and talk to it - yes and no. Oo what's the connection like - lousy. So probably a temporary routing jam or BT are fiddling with your main junction box, try it again later. (Lo and behold the next day everything was fine)

Later in the weekend I get another call 'The digital box is behaving oddly' It wasn't displaying any on-screen graphics. Now I know an Over-The-Air update had just gone out so had it updated correctly? The menu wouldn't even display. Oh joy! Try a full power off/on. Oo a message I'll have to paraphrase -

'Your system had been updated and a new tree added to the guide. Please leave your box in standby over night to check for availability to avoid seeing this message every power up. To check for availability now press the OK button or to continue watching the television press quit'

With an ominous timer at the bottom of the screen. Apparently this came up before to a result of - "What do I do, what do I do?", "Quick press OK quick quick before the timer stops" Doing so made the box turn off and "The box is off quick turn it back on again"

Yep they'd interrupted the cycle; pressing OK, watching it turn itself off and doing nothing was the correct course of action to take. The box then turned itself back on and all was well.

So why the title of this piece, well I'll start with the internet bit first. "I went through the usual check-list" I said, so why am I doing this? What happens when your browser fails to connect - you get a screen up telling you to hit refresh, check the spelling of the address, click here to check your internet settings, or finally contact your network administrator.

First two no problem for your normal home-user; click here to check your internet settings? Okay now what am I looking at? <shrugs>. Contact my network administrator, who's that? The ISP at 60p/minute?

Let's look at what I did, first off I checked another site address - why can't the browser do this? What's stopping Microsoft's Internet Explorer attempting to reach www.microsoft.com, a site that should be always up. Can't get a name resolution for that - then it's unlikely to matter if you've spelled the address correctly or not you'll get the same result. Put up a suggestion that they check the connection. If that's okay check the trace; getting some time-outs along both routes, looks like congestion or some problems at the ISP, or with your phone line. Put up a suggestion to this effect and perhaps that you try again later. Finally if all that checks out suggest that the site might not be working.


Onto the digital box, the timer was stupid and is bound to produce panic. Updated "tree" what the hell is a tree and why is it in my TV guide, how in the hell is the average home user expected to understand that? Press OK to check availability or quit to continue watching - first problem no 'quit' button; second problem at the bottom of the screen, which shows what you can do, is the default icon for OK next to the word ': Quit'. Yep press OK to quit. Finally at what point does it tell you that not only will the box go into standby, but most importantly you shouldn't switch it off or on. It can be inferred from the message that it'll go into standby, but try picking up on that while staring at a count-down timer.


Both of these calls were unnecessary had the software been doing a decent job or been worded correctly. With more and more technology infiltrating ours lives sloppiness like this just should not be tolerated.