I knew it had been a long time since I posted here - but I am stunned to find that my last post was almost a year ago. Where on earth does time go to?
The big news in my computer life is that I am no longer the XP girl! Earlier this year, I finally decided to ditch the spurned operating system. I dabbled for a while with the idea of switching to Linux, but in the end I was not certain that it was going to work okay on my 11-year-old Dell computer. So I opted for Windows 7. I installed it myself without too much difficulty - apart from some initial teething problems with the sound not working. Luckily, that was sorted - it would have been a major tragedy if I couldn't listen to my music!
Prior to that - last October - I also installed a new operating system on the Sony Vaio notebook which I took over from my daughter. I was able to install Windows 10 on that. I like Windows 10 and cannot understand why some people hate it. It has been a long time since I found myself the owner of a computer with an up-to-date operating system, so it is a novel experience for me!
I also replaced the DVD drives on both the notebook and the Dell desktop, as the old ones were not working. I had a bit of trouble with the Dell, as I needed an IDE drive and I couldn't find one. Somebody on the computer forum I use then said he had found an old one in his garage and offered to send it to me for nothing. This was inctedibly kind of him - but threw me into a huge panic as I was very worried about giving somebody from the Internet my address. You hear such bad stories! The guy who normally helps me on the forum knew about it though and seemed to think I should take up the offer, so I gave my address. Luckily it seems to have worked out oksy as the drive is installed and working well and the person who sent it has not turned out to be an axe murderer or a stalker. At least, not thus far!
Let's face it, who would want to stalk a funny old lady like me anyway?!!!!!! :)
Chris (channeal)
Thursday 6 July 2017
Saturday 13 August 2016
USING COMPUTER FORUMS
I owe a lot of my computer knowledge to computer forums. I have used various ones since first owning a computer, way back in 1999, but have settled on one particular one since 2014 when I received a really amazing amount of help from it. I hold the guys who provide help on all these forums in high esteem - they give up hours of their time and get nothing back in return, save for the knowledge that they have helped somebody solve a problem that they would not otherwise have been able to solve. So big kudos to them all.
Having said all that, I just had a spell in a computer forum that I found really hard. The guy helping me was excellent and solved my problems for me. I just found it difficult to deal with the fact that there was no feedback from him at all, no interaction whatsoever. He didn't say hello, goodbye or really give any indication as to whether or not I had carried out his instructions correctly. (I guess I need a bit of reassurance sometimes!). Nor, when I thanked him, did he ever even say something like "No problem" or "You are welcome".
Somebody else said to me that the person who was helping me was 'a professional'. Even professionals can be polite though, surely? To me it is not polite to fail to acknowledge thanks, or to observe at least a minimum level of basic interaction. Maybe he thinks the way he is is the right way to be, the 'Professional' way. I just couldn't deal with it though! I found myself believing that the fact that he was effectively ignoring me as a person meant that he was either angry with me for some reason, or that he he must think I was really thick! It is no good telling me that this guy was too 'Professional' to think any of those things: however professional somebody is, unless they are complete automatons they are bound to form their own private opinions about the person they are dealing with.
Maybe it's a female thing. You know, 'Women are from Mars and men are from Venus' and all that jazz! I guess we girls find it harder to disassociate our emotions and personalities from what we are doing. I cannot turn into a robot when I am dealing with computer problems: I am still me, with whatever that entails!
It goes without saying that in spite of the above, I am very grateful to the person who helped me solve my computer problems. He is obviously a very knowledgeable guy - and anyone who voluntarily helps people out without any reward for themselves cannot be all bad. The fault probably lies mostly with me......
Of course, not everyone who helps out on computer forums is like the guy who recently helped me. I have been helped by some very nice people in the past, who do acknowledge thanks and do occasionally show their human side. There are really not enough of these people around and the ones who exist are often in a hurry and don't get time to answer lots of questions - and being me, I usually ask too many! It takes me back to my oft-repeated complaint, that I don't know a single real-life person who I could talk to about computer matters. I live my life in a world where nobody knows a single thing about any of this stuff! :(
I have been thinking of joining a computer club which I have discovered takes place in a village a few miles from where I live. It would take a bit of complicated travelling to get myself there, but I am thinking of giving it a try. I am a bit nervous though, as I am not sure whether as an old lady in my 60s I would feel completely out of place. I guess there is only one way to find out though, by giving it a try. I won't be able to do that until the end of September now, but will let you know if I eventually pluck up courage and go along.
Going back to the original topic of computer forums, it is certainly not my intention to put anybody off from using them. If you have a computer problem, do please give them a try. I have learned so much from them and my old computer would almost certainly not still be chugging along without them. Just remember what I have said - especially if, like me, you are an over-sensitive female! :)
Chris (channeal)
Having said all that, I just had a spell in a computer forum that I found really hard. The guy helping me was excellent and solved my problems for me. I just found it difficult to deal with the fact that there was no feedback from him at all, no interaction whatsoever. He didn't say hello, goodbye or really give any indication as to whether or not I had carried out his instructions correctly. (I guess I need a bit of reassurance sometimes!). Nor, when I thanked him, did he ever even say something like "No problem" or "You are welcome".
Somebody else said to me that the person who was helping me was 'a professional'. Even professionals can be polite though, surely? To me it is not polite to fail to acknowledge thanks, or to observe at least a minimum level of basic interaction. Maybe he thinks the way he is is the right way to be, the 'Professional' way. I just couldn't deal with it though! I found myself believing that the fact that he was effectively ignoring me as a person meant that he was either angry with me for some reason, or that he he must think I was really thick! It is no good telling me that this guy was too 'Professional' to think any of those things: however professional somebody is, unless they are complete automatons they are bound to form their own private opinions about the person they are dealing with.
Maybe it's a female thing. You know, 'Women are from Mars and men are from Venus' and all that jazz! I guess we girls find it harder to disassociate our emotions and personalities from what we are doing. I cannot turn into a robot when I am dealing with computer problems: I am still me, with whatever that entails!
It goes without saying that in spite of the above, I am very grateful to the person who helped me solve my computer problems. He is obviously a very knowledgeable guy - and anyone who voluntarily helps people out without any reward for themselves cannot be all bad. The fault probably lies mostly with me......
Of course, not everyone who helps out on computer forums is like the guy who recently helped me. I have been helped by some very nice people in the past, who do acknowledge thanks and do occasionally show their human side. There are really not enough of these people around and the ones who exist are often in a hurry and don't get time to answer lots of questions - and being me, I usually ask too many! It takes me back to my oft-repeated complaint, that I don't know a single real-life person who I could talk to about computer matters. I live my life in a world where nobody knows a single thing about any of this stuff! :(
I have been thinking of joining a computer club which I have discovered takes place in a village a few miles from where I live. It would take a bit of complicated travelling to get myself there, but I am thinking of giving it a try. I am a bit nervous though, as I am not sure whether as an old lady in my 60s I would feel completely out of place. I guess there is only one way to find out though, by giving it a try. I won't be able to do that until the end of September now, but will let you know if I eventually pluck up courage and go along.
Going back to the original topic of computer forums, it is certainly not my intention to put anybody off from using them. If you have a computer problem, do please give them a try. I have learned so much from them and my old computer would almost certainly not still be chugging along without them. Just remember what I have said - especially if, like me, you are an over-sensitive female! :)
Chris (channeal)
Thursday 30 June 2016
THE GRAVE SIN OF STILL RUNNING WINDOWS XP
Much as I love computers and consider myself to be cool and up-to-date for such an old fogy (ha ha!), the computer world I inhabit is bordering on the archaic...... this because I am committing the unforgivable sin of still running Windows XP.
This grievous crime is not - I hasten to add - my own fault. I would love a new, shiny Windows 10 computer. My husband does not however feel the same: he never buys anything new until the old model has broken down with no hope of revival (which possibly accounts for the reason that he has not replaced me yet, in spite of the fact that after almost 42 years of marriage I am indisputably past my sell-by date!). My attempts at relaying to him the pitfalls of following such a treacherous path has fallen on deaf ears. So - dangers or not - I just have to wait until this computer finally succumbs to old age.
Meanwhile, I am trying to get our daughter - who bought herself a brand new Windows 10 laptop earlier this year - to clear all her files from her old Sony Vaio laptop so that I can take it over and see if it can be updated.. Unfortunately though, our daughter has been suffering from P.T.S.D. as a result of something really traumatic that happened to her back in January 2015 and getting her to do anything is akin to trying to move Mount Everest. So, until this computer blows up or suffers a similar fate, I am stuck with this old XP!
My computer - a Dell Dimension 9150 - is ten years old now and has been a really excellent computer. It has been especially well-behaved for the past couple of years since having a bit of a spring-clean back in 2014 (courtesy of an amazing amount of assistance I received from a computer forum). So my husband can possibly be forgiven for not wanting to get rid of it just yet.
I do however have a big problem with understanding why Microsoft have done this to XP users. I have read all the security warnings about the dire events which are threatened to happen to those of us still persisting in using this OS (apparently we are not supposed to use our computers to access the internet at all now) - and all these looming dangers are being brought about only because Microsoft have decided to stop issuing security updates for XP. How can this be right?
I look on a computer as being like a car. People with more money than sense replace their cars for newer models while they are still in perfect working order, just because they can! Others with considerably fewer pounds in their pockets go on using their cars for years, with the constant risk that problems can arise. The powers-that-be police this to ensure that people are not driving around in complete death traps by (here in the U.K and presumably elsewhere too) making it a legal requirement to have cars tested once a year. If a car does not pass that test, the owner is not given a M.O.T. certificate until the problem is fixed. Nobody says you cannot get the car fixed though. Nobody says that after x number of years on the road a car will stop being issued with M.O.T. certificates, regardless of the fact that it is still roadworthy. If a car has a problem - maybe a problem that could make it dangerous to use on the road - if the user wants to get it fixed, he can.
With XP, Microsoft know that there will be people like us who will go on using it. In my view, they are trying to scare and bully us into buying new operating systems (which in the case of a 10-year-old computer like ours would really mean buying a new computer too) by deliberately increasing the dangers of using it. Dangers that we cannot fix without their help.
I would love a new computer. I would love nothing more than to try out Windows 10 and see what it is like. If this old but much-loved computer continues to live on for much longer and I manage to get my daughter's computer up-and-running okay, I might eventually hand it to my husband for him to use and buy myself a brand new laptop. Then we could follow the recommendations of the tech experts and use this computer only for creating documents and for listening to music. One of the reasons I love this computer so much is because it has five speakers and the sound is quite good. I have a very varied digital music collection, so audio is one of the most important aspects of my computer life.
Meanwhile though, we remain inhabitants of the XP-using underworld......
Chris (channeal)
This grievous crime is not - I hasten to add - my own fault. I would love a new, shiny Windows 10 computer. My husband does not however feel the same: he never buys anything new until the old model has broken down with no hope of revival (which possibly accounts for the reason that he has not replaced me yet, in spite of the fact that after almost 42 years of marriage I am indisputably past my sell-by date!). My attempts at relaying to him the pitfalls of following such a treacherous path has fallen on deaf ears. So - dangers or not - I just have to wait until this computer finally succumbs to old age.
Meanwhile, I am trying to get our daughter - who bought herself a brand new Windows 10 laptop earlier this year - to clear all her files from her old Sony Vaio laptop so that I can take it over and see if it can be updated.. Unfortunately though, our daughter has been suffering from P.T.S.D. as a result of something really traumatic that happened to her back in January 2015 and getting her to do anything is akin to trying to move Mount Everest. So, until this computer blows up or suffers a similar fate, I am stuck with this old XP!
My computer - a Dell Dimension 9150 - is ten years old now and has been a really excellent computer. It has been especially well-behaved for the past couple of years since having a bit of a spring-clean back in 2014 (courtesy of an amazing amount of assistance I received from a computer forum). So my husband can possibly be forgiven for not wanting to get rid of it just yet.
I do however have a big problem with understanding why Microsoft have done this to XP users. I have read all the security warnings about the dire events which are threatened to happen to those of us still persisting in using this OS (apparently we are not supposed to use our computers to access the internet at all now) - and all these looming dangers are being brought about only because Microsoft have decided to stop issuing security updates for XP. How can this be right?
I look on a computer as being like a car. People with more money than sense replace their cars for newer models while they are still in perfect working order, just because they can! Others with considerably fewer pounds in their pockets go on using their cars for years, with the constant risk that problems can arise. The powers-that-be police this to ensure that people are not driving around in complete death traps by (here in the U.K and presumably elsewhere too) making it a legal requirement to have cars tested once a year. If a car does not pass that test, the owner is not given a M.O.T. certificate until the problem is fixed. Nobody says you cannot get the car fixed though. Nobody says that after x number of years on the road a car will stop being issued with M.O.T. certificates, regardless of the fact that it is still roadworthy. If a car has a problem - maybe a problem that could make it dangerous to use on the road - if the user wants to get it fixed, he can.
With XP, Microsoft know that there will be people like us who will go on using it. In my view, they are trying to scare and bully us into buying new operating systems (which in the case of a 10-year-old computer like ours would really mean buying a new computer too) by deliberately increasing the dangers of using it. Dangers that we cannot fix without their help.
I would love a new computer. I would love nothing more than to try out Windows 10 and see what it is like. If this old but much-loved computer continues to live on for much longer and I manage to get my daughter's computer up-and-running okay, I might eventually hand it to my husband for him to use and buy myself a brand new laptop. Then we could follow the recommendations of the tech experts and use this computer only for creating documents and for listening to music. One of the reasons I love this computer so much is because it has five speakers and the sound is quite good. I have a very varied digital music collection, so audio is one of the most important aspects of my computer life.
Meanwhile though, we remain inhabitants of the XP-using underworld......
Chris (channeal)
Tuesday 7 June 2016
IS IT CRAZY TO LOVE COMPUTERS AT MY RIPE OLD AGE?
It seems that it is quite unusual for somebody of my age to love computers so much.....
It's not that I know much about the workings of computers, or can do anything really fancy. The most even vaguely fancy thing I have ever done was to clone my hard drive (we have got two hard drives on our computer ) and to make the main drive the secondary one - and vice versa. That was only done with help of the somebody a computer forum though.
The thing is, I enjoyed doing it so much. It took my mind completely away from the everyday problems of life (and believe me, I have got quite a few of those!). I'd like to learn more of that kind of stuff, but don't know how to....
I enjoy problem solving, putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. Computer problems are always like that..... you have to be a bit of a detective and follow the trail to find the solution. And computers always have something different up their sleeves (or perhaps in their processors) to surprise us with.
I have always been an unusual person. My interests have never exactly followed the norm. In that respect liking computers is true to form.
If when I die, I am told I am going to be sent back to have a second try at this life, I want to be enough of a computer genius to be able to help out in one of the computer forums in which I have been helped so much in the past. It would be so great to be able to help people in that way. Just gotta convince my Maker that it would be a good thing to give me my wish.... :-)
Chris (channeal)
It's not that I know much about the workings of computers, or can do anything really fancy. The most even vaguely fancy thing I have ever done was to clone my hard drive (we have got two hard drives on our computer ) and to make the main drive the secondary one - and vice versa. That was only done with help of the somebody a computer forum though.
The thing is, I enjoyed doing it so much. It took my mind completely away from the everyday problems of life (and believe me, I have got quite a few of those!). I'd like to learn more of that kind of stuff, but don't know how to....
I enjoy problem solving, putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. Computer problems are always like that..... you have to be a bit of a detective and follow the trail to find the solution. And computers always have something different up their sleeves (or perhaps in their processors) to surprise us with.
I have always been an unusual person. My interests have never exactly followed the norm. In that respect liking computers is true to form.
If when I die, I am told I am going to be sent back to have a second try at this life, I want to be enough of a computer genius to be able to help out in one of the computer forums in which I have been helped so much in the past. It would be so great to be able to help people in that way. Just gotta convince my Maker that it would be a good thing to give me my wish.... :-)
Chris (channeal)
Friday 4 March 2016
AN INTRODUCTION.
Okay, let's clear this up right from the start: me being a computer expert is never gonna happen, as much as I would like it to! It is pipe dreams, sheer fantasy land. But we all need our dreams, do we not?
I suppose it is quite unusual anyway for a female of my age (which is currently 64) to be dreaming about being a computer whizz-kid. Most of the women I know have just about mastered the art of looking at their emails and that's as far as it goes. I don't think they lie in bed dreaming about solving computer problems - and if their computer goes wrong, it is packed straight off to the computer shop. Their minds are probably full of thoughts about their grandchildren or of redesigning their living room. I however have not been blessed with the former and the latter has never really interested me. I find a lot of the stuff that many women talk about a bit alien to me, to be honest. But then, I have probably always been an unusual person who has on many occasions found it hard to fit in.
Dont get me wrong though: I am not one of those hard, masculine women. Far from it, in fact. I am a soft, sensitive, emotional (often over-emotional, actually!) woman who likes poetry and most kinds of music: nothing too loud though, I am definitely not a heavy-metal fan!
The annoying thing about me wishing I could know a lot more about computers (apart from the fact that I am probably too old and forgetful now to retain much new information about them for very long) is that I do not know a single person who I can talk to about computers. If I was a young person now, I would most likely be able to chat to my peers and learn a lot from those with some technical knowledge. At my age though, there is nobody to learn from: you either teach yourself from odds and ends of information online, or not learn at all!
I do have a husband by the way, but his talents/interests do not lie in anything even remotely connected to computers. His brain is very good at solving maths problems, but not computer ones! He just does not understand the fact that I am never happier than when I spend a few hours trying to sort out some problem on the computer. Actually, for an otherwise intelligent man he is a complete nerd where anything technical is concerned and calls for me to assist him with even the simplest of things. He would much rather be out playing golf, or watching a football match.
I do not really know what I hope to achieve by starting this blog. I very much doubt that a kindred spirit - somebody I could talk to about computer stuff - will suddenly crawl out of the woodwork and befriend me. Great though that would be, in my experience things like that just do not happen to me! I am much more likely to end up talking away to myself. That's okay though; these days I am quite used to talking to myself! ;)
Chris (channeal)
I suppose it is quite unusual anyway for a female of my age (which is currently 64) to be dreaming about being a computer whizz-kid. Most of the women I know have just about mastered the art of looking at their emails and that's as far as it goes. I don't think they lie in bed dreaming about solving computer problems - and if their computer goes wrong, it is packed straight off to the computer shop. Their minds are probably full of thoughts about their grandchildren or of redesigning their living room. I however have not been blessed with the former and the latter has never really interested me. I find a lot of the stuff that many women talk about a bit alien to me, to be honest. But then, I have probably always been an unusual person who has on many occasions found it hard to fit in.
Dont get me wrong though: I am not one of those hard, masculine women. Far from it, in fact. I am a soft, sensitive, emotional (often over-emotional, actually!) woman who likes poetry and most kinds of music: nothing too loud though, I am definitely not a heavy-metal fan!
The annoying thing about me wishing I could know a lot more about computers (apart from the fact that I am probably too old and forgetful now to retain much new information about them for very long) is that I do not know a single person who I can talk to about computers. If I was a young person now, I would most likely be able to chat to my peers and learn a lot from those with some technical knowledge. At my age though, there is nobody to learn from: you either teach yourself from odds and ends of information online, or not learn at all!
I do have a husband by the way, but his talents/interests do not lie in anything even remotely connected to computers. His brain is very good at solving maths problems, but not computer ones! He just does not understand the fact that I am never happier than when I spend a few hours trying to sort out some problem on the computer. Actually, for an otherwise intelligent man he is a complete nerd where anything technical is concerned and calls for me to assist him with even the simplest of things. He would much rather be out playing golf, or watching a football match.
I do not really know what I hope to achieve by starting this blog. I very much doubt that a kindred spirit - somebody I could talk to about computer stuff - will suddenly crawl out of the woodwork and befriend me. Great though that would be, in my experience things like that just do not happen to me! I am much more likely to end up talking away to myself. That's okay though; these days I am quite used to talking to myself! ;)
Chris (channeal)
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