COMPUTERS!

Until a week ago I was working two computers, one ancient and one reasonably new, and there’s another one in the wardrobe that Joe used. Not one of them is what I call ‘good’. Joe’s computer has nothing on it that I can use, he wasn’t into computers so he never bothered to do anything with it except check email on the internet. He did a bit of typing with a programme already on computer but there was nothing special about it.

Two years ago Joe bought me a new computer because he assumed I could do with a new one. However, as it was a surprise he didn’t ask if there was anything special I wanted on it. The man in the shop should have known better, I mean, we’ve been going to him for computer advice and purchases for a good many years and he knew exactly what I needed or wanted. Anyway, I ended up with a ‘professional’ computer, one that was way above my head in the understanding stakes. It had none of the customary programmes that I use on a daily basis. There was no facility for carrying on the monthly news sheet I did for WI, no word art, no clip-art, and no fancy way of doing things, not even an understandable spreadsheet. You can imagine my frustration! There was only one thing I could do and that was to reinstate my old computer. Nothing wrong with that, you might say.

I happily sailed along for a couple of years without Joe knowing that I had reverted to the old machine. After all, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. It came to an end a week ago when, after weeks of refusing an update, it was forced on me by Windows. I could almost hear it screaming ‘THOU SHALT HAVE WINDOWS 10 WHETHER YOU WANT IT OR NOT.’

I am now the not-so-proud possessor of Windows 10 and hate it. And I’m stuck with it. For a short while I struggled along in the vain hope that I would get used to it – until a few days ago when access to internet was denied. Not just denied, but blocked. COMPLETELY. I can use it for anything else but not internet access.

What to do?

I now know why I don’t throw anything away because the newer machine has come into its own for getting on line. But what an inconvenience?!

For a while I used two machines, the oldie for straightforward typing and the newer one to get on line. Interesting to be typing on one and seeing email come in on the other … interesting but not satisfactory.

For a couple of days I persevered, but transferring stuff by flash drive to the other machine so that I could send it by email or to the blog was decidedly unsatisfactory. Maybe soon, I thought, I will find a way to type on the other computer even though it would be like going back to school and my brain isn’t up to lessons these days.

I made a couple of resolutions: to buy more flash drives, or whatever they’re called these days, or have a chat with the expert up the road who would probably persuade me to buy another machine. Deep down, though, I knew the time had come to sort out all the plugs and wiring and stop being silly.

I did it yesterday. The printer was shoved along to make room for the now-not-in-use computer, which had to stay nearby just in case I needed it. The rubbish machine is at the back of my rather large desk, and still has the internet connection if required. I’ve left that where it is for the time being since everything works in the air (or something). Joe’s machine was never plugged into anything and he was in a separate room. 

Years ago I was able to do anything electrical - maybe not in an expert way but a get-something-working way. I was better than Joe for working things out and coming up with solutions, albeit make-shift. I was the practical one and he was the one with the brains. He could add up a line of figures without blinking, whereas I only had to look at the first figure for panic to set-in. I'm still the same. Tell me to write a book and I could do it but put a list of numbers in front of me and I'd be up the road and on the bus in a nanosecond. 

However, the only thing I managed to get wrong on the current front was the facility of issuing instructions to print documents from the next room, through some cloud or other. It's an amazing facility and I miss it already. Goodness only knows how I get it up and running again but I guess I lived without it before so I can (inconveniently) live without it again. 

I confess to not feeling as silly as I did a few days ago and all I have to do is learn how to type without making mistakes on an alien keyboard, one that thinks it knows what I want to write before I write it…. Oooooh that DOES make me cross. 

New machines can be TOO clever, can’t they?