10 Years Of Writing For DCT

Like many visitors to Dave’s Computer Tips, I came across the website in December 2013, looking for a solution to a PC problem. Well, I found what I was looking for and then posted in the DCT forum where I was noticed by Dave Hartsock, who kindly asked me if I would like to write the odd article for the website and I’ve been contributing ever since.

My Early Articles

I wrote my first article in January 2014, So you want to build your own PC? for no other reason than I was building PCs regularly back then.

That article is a little basic, but it does highlight the pleasure, rewards, and knowledge gained from building your own PC from scratch. It’s also like travelling back in time, so I’m transported back to the moment when I acquired the components and began the build. Incidentally, it was for my wife’s son and he was using it up until only a couple of years ago.

A few days later I must have had an attack of the pretensions because I penned, Would You Survive a Techno Apocalypse? and I’m still scratching my head, wondering how that piece found its way past our editor. I have acquired a Mr Off-Topic reputation over the years, but this particular ramble goes way off into the stratosphere and I can only assume that I had been glued to The Walking Dead and other post-apocalyptic adventures on Netflix. Still, it’s good to be prepared for any end-of-world scenario, I always think.

More ramblings…

As I write this, I’m cringing inside because many of my earlier articles such as Look what they’ve done to my games Ma… and The Right Man in the Wrong Place? went even further into deep, philosophical space, mentioning such luminaries as the singer, Melanie (who didn’t play video games to my knowledge), Jesus Christ, Che Guevara, Winston Smith, and Gordon Freeman. Pretentious? Moi? I can only deduce that I must have been honing my rusty writing skills because later on, my scribblings for DCT miraculously came back on track and into a more on-topic direction which must have been a relief to our editor.

Back On-Topic

As many readers will know, I enjoy playing video games and, along with writing about current social issues related to technology, I can’t resist penning an opinion on game-related topics. I would describe myself as an old-school gamer and enjoy the challenge of leveraging an oldie but goldie into a current operating system. How to run older games on new systems – Part 1 is a fun example on how to run an MS-DOS-based game in a current Windows setup. I then wrote numerous game previews, and opinion pieces on games, and what stands out for me, is how important websites such as this, really are. One can look back through the DCT archives as if it were a time capsule and ask oneself, is that what we were doing back then?

Let’s Rant!

Since my first article for DCT, I have become a full-time writer, with no small thanks to this site for allowing me to sharpen my pencil as it were. I enjoy the flow of writing and when an idea pops into my head, maybe because I feel very strongly about an injustice or just a crappy piece of software, I feel compelled to hit the keyboard. A good example of me venting was back in July 2014 when I let rip on Windows 8 in 8 Reasons Why Windows 8 Sucks. Looking back at that article, I feel justified in slagging off one of the most ill-thought-out operating systems ever to see the light of day. Believe it or not, I still come across this aberration on customer laptops and business PCs, which is a head-scratcher in this day and age. Anyway, I’ve written loads more rants here at DCT and will continue to do so if something peeves me – social media springs to mind, but please don’t get me started on that one.

And now that I’ve crossed that 10-year threshold, I’m looking forward to bashing away at my keyboard in the years to come, so look out!

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