Computers

You know I bought my first computer in 1998 brand new, off the shelf and nursed it through my ignorance 3 hard drive crashes and three windows upgrades. Toward the end it was limping gamely along trying to understand what to do with the new technology so we gave it the nickname Gertrude. At Christmas we bought a new desktop with a flat screen monitor but quickly realized that Windows Vista was not real friendly with other programs. Old Gertrude had given the dreaded blue screen with signals of imminent hard drive failure so there was no going back. I needed a laptop so off we go and buy one off the shelf again with Vista. And then it gets fun.
With a laptop you need a wireless router and printer. Add all the great software I wanted to all that I needed to make it run properly and I’ve spent a small fortune and time just setting everything up. Then I realize the need to set up our own network and add battery back up to the desk top so I have seen the cable guys more than I have seen my friends.
We upgraded to Windows Ultimate, Microsoft Office Suite, Mionet, Quickbooks, 3 different photo editing software not including Adobe and Elements, Reg Booster, Google everything, AOL browser and a password managing program to remember way to many passwords. It’s a blessing when shopping for graphics for myspace and other social sites. My experience has taught me that many of the free programs are just as good as the paid ones sometimes even better. I found one a little too late to save me some trouble but Photobucket really works well when you find a great graphic that you are just not ready to post.
For a long while all I used was Yahoo and that left a lot to be desired. Now the Myspace thing is a cool way off showing off who you are if you have an enormous amount of time to figure out what a layout is, where it goes and the myspace editor is not the best tool to do the job. Once you get the background set and add pictures, graphic, music and info about yourself, just wait, if myspace has a bad day everything you’ve worked on is out the door never to be seen again. And the kids use the bulletins as a constant reminder of where they are more often than not. But you can add a lot of pictures and blog, which is a whole new thing for me.
Although I also have a Facebook account I don’t use it as much but it is easier to converse with adults without all the drama and their applications work a little better than on myspace. But now that I have found blogging to help get things off my chest I come back to the Google Blogger because it is easier to use. They also have Orkut networking site but not many people seem to be using that yet. The HP care advisor and photo program haven’t worked right since we got everything else working right and now they tell me that I need to reinstall the restore disk and return the laptop back to factory setting and I have one question for them. Have they lost their mind? It would take me a month just to get back to some symbolism of normal and do they think we have nothing else better to do with our time and money?
So now I have 4 different email addresses depending on the sites I visit, 4 different social networking sites depending on my friends’ preferences, and 4 different photo editing programs. Maybe I’ll figure out Adobe one day. But on the bright side online banking is great. Now if I could just get dinner delivered from online sites I would never have to leave the house!