This is about the time each year that I look back at the past year.
If gremlins exist, we were beset by them, beginning with the replacement of an ancient (in today's terms) desktop that was running Windows XP.....
The change-over of all the files involved new programs in order for them to work properly, and although it is not my forte, I managed to get things restored with the exception of our address book database. That had to be put into the laptop to work properly.
We'll just let that thought stay there for a while. My laptop is the only computer that has our address book database. A database that, if not transferred to another computer right away, tends to like to corrupt the media it's saved to.....
Next, my husband bought a laptop. It wouldn't finish the initial start up. It kept going to a black screen instead of allowing information to be entered. It was brought back to the store where it was purchased, replaced, and the initial start-up was performed at the store....
It, too, suffered from suddenly going to a black screen without reason. Numerous attempts were made to fix it, but it had to go back to the factory - twice - before it began to behave as if it knew how to be a good lappie.....
While going through the stuff with the laptop, our cable company raised their rates for the third time in a year, so we went to a dsl provider. A "downgrade", according to some, but a more reasonable dent in our pockets. More tech time to change everything to the new connection. It was starting to get easier, but the gremlins like to play games. The dsl company promises phone service without interrupting the wifi. Sometimes it works and I can surf while I talk. Sometimes the wifi crashes when a call comes in.
Interesting thing about the crash pattern, though. It seems to happen only when my husband calls.
Of course, shutting off cable means we're on an antenna for television. We somehow manage to get lucky, as the gremlins seem to like only messing with the high tech stuff.. An online assessment site tells us we can get 6 channels at our location. We get 12.....sometimes.....9 reliably.
Speaking of high tech, remember that database with our addresses in it? The one that only resided on my laptop because it corrupted the CD......and the DVD......and the USB......and, it seems, my hard drive....
The technician where I make my daily bread tells me that a failed hard drive usually happens in a Dell laptop within 3 years. I managed to make mine last for 6, which he thought was very good, but the database......
Remember that database?
That database didn't transfer with the other backup files that held all the other things I saved on my laptop. It didn't save on the USB where I put it, a single file on it's own little thumb drive, even though it opened - twice - when I checked the transferred file on the USB.
Gremlins love to mess with Christmas, as that's what the address book was kept for. That''s why I'm writing this HERE instead of in a newsletter to be included in Christmas cards. Just those who mail to me will get a card from me this year.....
My daughter, who moved back in with us after a failed relationship, rounded out the scourge on the laptops. Only problem is that she lost her recovery discs at some point along the way. I'm not techie enough to handle THAT little dilemma, as that involves finding someone with a recovery disc for the exact kind of laptop that she has.....
The gremlins win again, it seems, even at work, where three replacement printers for the front end and endless repairs to both the front end and copy center printers has become almost a common theme for each week.....
So, let me hand out the little Santa hats to make all my little gremlins look festive and wish you a Happy Holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule. Kwanzaa, or "National The Floor Is Lava Day". May you have a gremlin free 2015.
If gremlins exist, we were beset by them, beginning with the replacement of an ancient (in today's terms) desktop that was running Windows XP.....
The change-over of all the files involved new programs in order for them to work properly, and although it is not my forte, I managed to get things restored with the exception of our address book database. That had to be put into the laptop to work properly.
We'll just let that thought stay there for a while. My laptop is the only computer that has our address book database. A database that, if not transferred to another computer right away, tends to like to corrupt the media it's saved to.....
Next, my husband bought a laptop. It wouldn't finish the initial start up. It kept going to a black screen instead of allowing information to be entered. It was brought back to the store where it was purchased, replaced, and the initial start-up was performed at the store....
It, too, suffered from suddenly going to a black screen without reason. Numerous attempts were made to fix it, but it had to go back to the factory - twice - before it began to behave as if it knew how to be a good lappie.....
While going through the stuff with the laptop, our cable company raised their rates for the third time in a year, so we went to a dsl provider. A "downgrade", according to some, but a more reasonable dent in our pockets. More tech time to change everything to the new connection. It was starting to get easier, but the gremlins like to play games. The dsl company promises phone service without interrupting the wifi. Sometimes it works and I can surf while I talk. Sometimes the wifi crashes when a call comes in.
Interesting thing about the crash pattern, though. It seems to happen only when my husband calls.
Of course, shutting off cable means we're on an antenna for television. We somehow manage to get lucky, as the gremlins seem to like only messing with the high tech stuff.. An online assessment site tells us we can get 6 channels at our location. We get 12.....sometimes.....9 reliably.
Speaking of high tech, remember that database with our addresses in it? The one that only resided on my laptop because it corrupted the CD......and the DVD......and the USB......and, it seems, my hard drive....
The technician where I make my daily bread tells me that a failed hard drive usually happens in a Dell laptop within 3 years. I managed to make mine last for 6, which he thought was very good, but the database......
Remember that database?
That database didn't transfer with the other backup files that held all the other things I saved on my laptop. It didn't save on the USB where I put it, a single file on it's own little thumb drive, even though it opened - twice - when I checked the transferred file on the USB.
Gremlins love to mess with Christmas, as that's what the address book was kept for. That''s why I'm writing this HERE instead of in a newsletter to be included in Christmas cards. Just those who mail to me will get a card from me this year.....
My daughter, who moved back in with us after a failed relationship, rounded out the scourge on the laptops. Only problem is that she lost her recovery discs at some point along the way. I'm not techie enough to handle THAT little dilemma, as that involves finding someone with a recovery disc for the exact kind of laptop that she has.....
The gremlins win again, it seems, even at work, where three replacement printers for the front end and endless repairs to both the front end and copy center printers has become almost a common theme for each week.....
So, let me hand out the little Santa hats to make all my little gremlins look festive and wish you a Happy Holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule. Kwanzaa, or "National The Floor Is Lava Day". May you have a gremlin free 2015.
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