Switch It Off - Switch It On

I can never do that business where you switch off the computer and then switch it on again to solve a crash or other issue without thinking that there is some sort of fraud going on.

Either the computer is playing with me, or the software writer has dug a tiger pit in the programming, or I am the fraud. I am grateful when the thing powers up and comes back to the same place I left it, but there is still that nagging suspicion that something is dreadfully wrong.

I see the same thing occasionally with cameras that are brought to the repairs department. The user has discovered some pattern of commands that bamfoozle the camera and cause it to lock up - sometimes these are resolvable by the switchoffswitchon method and sometimes they are not. Our techs can deal with it but sometimes even they are left waiting - as the exact combination of confused commands that push the electronic signals out of their normal channels may be difficult to reproduce.

And occasionally the manufacturers issue their firmware updates and coyly refer to the previous problem being completely resolved. I suppose we should be grateful that they are willing to keep thinking about the electronic programming after the product leaves the factory. In the case of the Fuji people they recently issued an update for a 2011 camera that makes it a delight to use. They didn't have to but they did. Thank you.

Is this sort of computer behaviour a real barrier to success? Only if you are trying to control the flight of a guided missile. Switch off and switch on just as you are about to hit the target would be a bummer, particularly if the target is frantically sending out go-away signals itself. It might also be a difficulty if one was trying to control a drone camera platform over enemy territory or the nurse's sunbathing lawn.

For the time being I will accept the thing - it might happen once every three months with the studio computer when I start to get too clever and pile on too many commands at once. It might just be the computer looking at my images and expressing a critical opinion...