Well let the Search Engines work out what this article is all about. I would seriously like to know what this week has been all about so far.
Let’s start with Priorities.
There I was bright and early on Monday morning answering a few e-mails before I started on the weeks tasks. Yes – a challenging week ahead but I was well prepared and the priorities were clear in my mind. But then again – priorities can change in an instant.
Mid sentence my laptop screen went blank – no warning. The machine was still alive and chuntering and whirring away as it does but nothing to be seen. A few stabs on a function key – the one that controls the monitor choice – brought the screen alive again but only for 5 seconds at a time.
I will spare you the details but by about 1 pm and several different calls later and following the advice of techies that I know – I decided the game was up with that particular laptop. After all it is old – it has given me a good three years of service – I was reliably informed.
Anyway here was a new priority – I needed to find out and find out fast what the best buy in laptops is currently. Not even looked at current specs recently (well about 3 years actually) but delve I did and on Tuesday morning bought a sparkling Acer.
Now here is the thing that really gets my goat (probably not an expression used worldwide – but I am sure you get my drift). When you buy a new machine it comes with a lot of manufacturers choice of software and all their own software as well. You turn on and answer a few questions and the machine goes into configuration setup mode for about half an hour loading things you don’t really want if you are an old hand at this computer stuff.
I don’t want Norton three month free trial but I got it. I also was not that keen on having Vista as the operating system – but frankly I had no choice – all new machines come with it installed automatically.
Now I have got older and wiser and don’t leap immediately a new operating system arrives on the scene. In my younger years I was an early adopter of new software, often to my cost because of incompatabilities with hardware that you had already installed. So when Vista came out I made no attempt to upgrade right away.
Vista I have got though now – like it or lump it.
So how did it all go on Tuesday then? Remarkably well for the most part. Because of Web 2.0 and so many more services on-line I was up and getting to a much more familiar setup by evening and most things were working ok. Couldn’t get the printer to work via wireless network but was ok via USB connection (I can live with that till my techie friends turn up)
However – and as usual there had to be a however – there was one important bit of equipment I couldn’t get sorted
I am very good and keep my data backed up external to my desktop and laptops on a Netgear Storage SC101. It is about the size of a large housebrick and might as well be a housebrick for all the use I can get out of it at the moment.
I went to the manufacturers website to seek help with setting up the hardware to work with Vista. The information and download was not very helpful and when I had followed instructions to the letter I sort of got something installed and there was an icon to click on the desktop. This looked hopeful. Clicked on it, only to be informed that I need administrative rights to access. I am the damned administrator – the only one on the computer.
How the manufacturers must hate it when there is a major upgrade of an operating system. Bill Gates says jump and…
– and I tried and tried until 12:30 am and finally called time.
I have written this in a way to explain to anyone who has been trying to call me or left messages that I will be back to normal as soon as I have cured my brick and Bill Gates answers my call.
Now – how to you uninstall on Vista?
