Its My Turn to Vent

[Grumpy]

I have to admit that from my very first experience with Computers I have embranced them and tried to learn about and use them; however, at the same time I have found them to be extremely confusing and FRUSTRATING. I think it is one of those things they call a LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP!! The fact that I was born before the age of computers sure doesn't help.

Anyhow, today was very much on the HATE side.

The laptop that I used of fishing trips and other trips away from home went belly up on me last week. That is not part of the problem but another story in itself. Anyhow, after some research I decided on a new Toshiba Satellite laptop and got a very good deal on one at Office Depot yesterday. When I got it home, I unpacked it and did all the initial set ups but decided I would wait until today to start on the Security and the Internet set ups.

Good thinking and, for that matter, I didn't even start on that until after lunch. And then I spent the most frustrating three hours I have had in a very long time. The problem was all of the things that new computers come PRELOADED with these days, i.e. Security suites, Microsoft Office, Financial, Photo, and a bunch of other things, but the real problem was the GOOGLE TOOLBAR that was set as the default after I finally got set up and connected to the Internet.

Uninstalling the programs I didn't want wasn't a big problem, just time consuming and frustring because some of them wanted to argue about why I needed them and shouldn't uninstall them. Then when I connected to the Internet the GOOGLE HOME PAGE came up with the Google Taskbar.

When I typed in the address for sites I wanted, like Fishin.com, and tried to Bookmark them, it said I had to be signed in to my Google account to do it. And that is were the frustration really started. I signed up for a new account, but then when I tried to log in and save a bookmark, it kept asking me to re-enter my user name and password AND ALSO ASKED ME TO TYPE IN WHAT WAS IN ONE OF THOSE SQUIGGLY LETTER/NUMBER LINES that they use for verification that you are real person and not a computer program. Hell, I can't read most of those things with a magnefying glass, especially they way there are all crammed together.

I won't go into all of the problems but I never did get Google to accept me and without that I really couldn't do anything. After trying for about three hours I finally said some nasty words and decided to take a nap and sleep on it.

I guess God finally figured I had had enough and just as I woke up from my nap, I remembered how to use the TOOLS menu to set my home page and to get off the Google tool bar. I made the changes and everything started falling into place after that.

I know the young kids today are raised with computers and all sorts of electronic gadgets, many of which I have never used and still can't figure out, but I wish the computer makers/software writers would realize that everyone is not born a Computer Whiz and do something to help us cronologicly enhanced people to set these things up without so much frustration. It seems like they assume that everyone automaticly knows how us set up and use a computer as soon as it comes out of the box. I don't, and that is what is so frustrating.

Anyhow, thanks for letting me vent. I am sure a lot of you know how I feel but I sure hope I don't need to set up another computer for a long long time.

Grumpy

[bassin_bug]

Here's a hug Grumpy. I remember how you told me that setting up my new computer would not be hard and encouraged me to go for it. Now I hope you feel better. However, I didn't do all my computer said to do. I went out and bought AVG Office virus protection, Microsoft Office Program and a separate program for my fax-copier-printer. When it started all the questions and introduction about a specific program that I didn't want, I clicked NO and dowloaded my own program. I hope your head isn't hurting too bad and that you have something to calm your nerves. Happy Surfin'

P.S. Never use a program that doesn't allow Fishin.com. lol

[Grumpy]

Bug, thanks for the hug, I NEEDED THAT!! But as best I remember, what you were concerned about before was setting up the hardware and I told you with an HP it wouldn't be a problem. Anyhow, there is a difference between my trying to give you some encouragement and my trying to deal with the GOOGLE HOMEPAGE AND TOOLBAR (smile). I really never did have this much trouble with my previous four home computers and this one wouldn't have been too bad except for GOOGLE. I am not sure I will ever GOOGLE anything again.

Grumpy

[DJD]

Heck my Dell laptop was acting up so much when I bought it that I had to call tech support. After asking...no begging the guy from Sri Lanka or wherever he was at to slow down and speak more clearly we finally started communicating. He still had to take it over and fix stuff. I was thinking that I had a lemon but it's been 2 years and works great!

[GeoFisher]

From a support standpoint..........I really like HP.......With that said.

DELL and Toshiba really load their puters down with LOTS of CRAP.

I usually blow it away and reload a clean image out of the box........

That is not for the faint of heart though........

AND another word of caution......on ANY new puter, make sure you build the recovery disks. Most new boxes don't come with install cd's and if the recovery partition is gone.....you JUST purchased a new copy of the OS.

It takes about 2 hrs to build recovery DVD's...........do it.

One other thing........On most HP boxes, and Compaq boxes......at least with Vista installed, you can use a function key combination to revert to a CLEAN BASE install. You will lose all your data, contacts, email, etc, etc, but every once in a while, thats not a bid thing......as long as you can recover your data.

Finally, A USB backup device will go a LONG way to eliminating some headaches. I've been preaching for years about backups.......ALL my boxes at home backup to a 2 TB NAS I built.....and I use a thumbdrive to backup my critical laptop stuff.

Finally, Finally.........Man, I'm long winded...........I use my thumb drive and something from mozilla called portable apps........I put my web browser, and my email client on the thumbdrive.....Create something called a briefcase on my laptop, and sync to the briefcase. THAT way I have a backup copy of my browser stuff AND my email stuff........AND I take the thumbdrive EVERWHERE. On any computer, I can plugin the thumbdrive, and use my email and browser......AND take it with me. No footprint on the computer, no trail......No way for ANYONE to know WHAT I've been doing, without having the thumbdrive.......

Later,

Geo

[Grumpy]

Geo, one of the things that, in the past, sold me on HP/Compaq was thier outstanding support, even though I only needed it a few times. However, the laptop that melted was a Compaq which was only 14 months old. The Tech at the local repair shop said that HP was having a problem with those particular batteries, which burned up the Motherboard ($400.00 for a new motherbaord, $169.00 for a new battery, plus labor). I talked to HP Tech Support and HP Batteryreplacement and they both denied any problems and gave me about the same prices to repair it. I fired off a letter to CEO Mark V. Hurd and let him know that if he didn't do something they had lost a "VERY LOYAL CUSTOMER".

Office Depot had the Toshiba on sale for $469.00 so I bought it. I don't think it had as much stuff pre-loaded as my four HP/Compaqs did, it was just a little more time consuming to get rid of it (not counting the frustration of dealing with the Google stuff). I certainly hope it lasts longer then 14 months, especially since I only use it three or four times a year (except for a monthly update, preventitive maintence, battery charger, etc. all of which usually takes less than a hour.)

Grumpy

[know1]

My home laptop is becoming obsolete. I pretty much do everything I need to do on my iPhone.

That being said, on computers I've pretty much been an internet only guy. I haven't used an email client for probably 10 years or more. I just use my gmail account and access through whatever browser I happen to have. I also save all my documents as Google Docs so they are always there wherever I have an internet connection. Same thing for any photos - Picasa.

Therefore, I don't need much more than an internet connection and a browser.

I haven't even owned a printer for more than 10 years either.

My next computer - if I even bother buying one - will be Linux based. I've installed it a couple of times in the past, but it wasn't quite ready for primetime in terms of wireless security. I believe the latest version of Ubuntu is there now, though.

[Chubminnow]

I hate computers...they're ok I guess, no doubt they make a lot of things very convenient...but generally speaking I hate them...I have been "forced" to work with one in my career, therefore "forced" to keep up or get left behind so to speak...I know how to do whatever it is that I do, but as soon as something screws up I'm dead in the water and all the does is make me wish I had a pencil and erasure instead of a computer. Are computers becoming more and more like women in that you can't live with them but you can't live without them either? Sorry ladies, no offense.

[DJD]

Are computers becoming more and more like women in that you can't live with them but you can't live without them either? Sorry ladies, no offense.

Dooh! You actually typed that? I leave it alone....