To Err is Human but Did You Back Up First?

     Ah...computers, where would we be without them?  If you've ever had one crash, and I bet you have, you know the answer---out of touch and out of sync.  Most of us rely on them, even more than we like to admit, for work and pleasure.  This quote sums it up:  "I rigged my cellular to send a message to my PDA, which is online with my PC, to get it to activate the voicemail, which sends the message to the inbox of my email, which routes it to the PDA, which beams it back to the cellular. Then I realized my gadgets have a better social life than I do !"  — Tom Ostad.

     Our household computers occupied a lot of my time in March.  Our nine year old HP PC started acting squirrelly several weeks ago so it was not a surprise when we couldn't get on it one morning.  Depending on who you ask, the current lifespan expectancy of a PC or laptop is three to seven years. You have heard of Murphy's Law but did you know there is Moore's Law of a Obsolescence (Gordon E. Moore). Moore says the number of transistors on integrated circuits double approximately every two years.  I 'm not sure what that means (found it on the Internet) but I guess we got our money's worth out of our PC.  A friend told me her new Toshiba laptop wouldn't boot two weeks after she bought it so she had to get a replacement.  It just goes to show, humans still rule! Our life expectancy is in the upper 80s. 

    We lucked up. It was the monitor that went kaput, not the PC,  but it was definitely a warning. We had not backed up our files in a couple of months.  We were fortunate to have a friend with a spare monitor sitting in his closet.  I hooked his monitor up, backed up all our files, financial information, pictures, etc. on flash disks and, although our PC was still working, we started shopping for a new computer.   

    Enter a new all-in-one HP Touch Smart PC with Windows 8.1 into our family.  Our "old" PC had Windows Vista so this was quite a jump on operating systems.  It took a few days to set it up to fit into our comfort zone.  The old Start menu was in a different place, had to set up short cuts we accessed frequently on the desktop, and learn how to toggle back and forth.   Email access is also different.  Ron is still adjusting to the change but I really like it.  We are discovering new things daily.  When I can't figure out how to customize something, like eliminating the password sign on requirement, I go to the HP support chat and allow them to remotely access our new computer and fix it.  This is a free customer service. 

     Just when I thought I could get back to Spring gardening and leave computer issues behind, my two-year-old HP laptop started acting weird.  AARGH!  I am pretty sure it was my fault.  One morning I turned it on and the screen indicated a gazillion files were updating.  I panicked, guess I thought a poltergeist had taken over my computer overnight, so I pulled the plug.  Bad move!  It wouldn't boot up afterwards. To get it back up I followed the recovery instructions to get it operational. I was back in business, EXCEPT,  I got script error messages on multiple websites when I browsed.  Somehow in the process, I had upgraded to IE 11.1 so I figured that was the problem.   I did some research and followed through on many so called remedies.  After trying for a few days, I gave up and hired a techie.   Another bad move.  He couldn't fix it either.  His solution was for me to use Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer.  You see, he just wasn't fond of IE 11.  I paid him, thanked for him for his advice, and after he left I returned to my DIY mode to find a solution. I "chatted" with Cherise at my Norton 360 Security to explore the possibility that I had inadvertently changed some settings during recovery which made it block certain websites.  As it turned out, it was not a Norton problem at all but a Microsoft issue. It seems earlier IE versions were messing up the new one.  Although it was not a Norton issue, Cherise fixed it anyway.  No extra charge!  All's well on the browsing home front!

    Even though technology and computers can be a pain,  don't you love the instant access to information they provide? I would be lost, and out of touch without them.  With patience, I guess we can all set up new systems and try to fix problems.  Happy browsing, emailing, You Tubing, Face Booking, documenting, photographing, etc,, BUT don't forget to back up!