I registered on EE on August 16, 2005, looked around the and answered 1 question.  After that I kind of forgot about it for almost 6 months before I logged on again.  Since then I try to log on at least every few days to try to answer a question or 2.

I enjoy helping people, especially with things I am good at and have an interest in which includes computers.  My first "computer" was an Atari 400 that I got for my birthday (I think) in 1980 when I was turning 11. It took cartridges, hooked up to a TV, came with a built-in keyboard and 2 joysticks.  I think the only 2 cartridges I had for it in the beginning was Asteroids and BASIC (I can't remember if BASIC was built-in or if it was on a cartridge).  After several hours of playing Asteroids I decided to "play BASIC".  I quickly figured my way around the "BASIC" program and found that I liked it.  I wrote small, simple programs including a few games.  The computer didn't have any type of storage (not even a floppy or tape drive) so I had to write down my code or it was gone forever when my mom came and turned off the computer.

A couple of years later I upgraded to an Apple ][ e.  This computer was a lot better than the Atari. I think it had an entire 16k of RAM, and even had a floppy drive that could hold ~ 112k of data!  I upgraded it with the 80 column text card (the built-in 40 column text card wasn't cutting it) and a printer port, and all that was only about $1500.

I finally bought my first PC in (I think) 1989 which was a Compaq DeskPro 386s/20.  It came with 1 MB of RAM, a 20 MB hard drive and a VGA controller.  That high-resolution 640x480 display was amazing at 16 colors.  It was on this computer that I started learning DOS (version 3.31 was out at the time).  I learned enough to start doing some test automation in batch files for my company, and then I started learning C++.  A few years later I began doing IT work which I began doing in 1995.  

Since then I have mostly gotten away from the programming and scripting, except what I occasionally use to help automate tasks for myself or others.  My current company does mostly IT support for companies that are too small for it to be cost effective to have their own full-time IT staff. During this time I have encountered many issues with hardware, software, Windows, networking, servers, etc.  I hope to use this experience to help others through the use of EE.

I can be contacted at my personal email address of gary (at) garyweb <dot> net.