New Computer

I’ve been away for a while. Very little stuff that was blogworthy. But also because I finally decided to ditch my old, slow computer and spring for a new one. So, off to Best Buy. I looked at a new personal computer tower (minus the monitor) with a reasonable price tag. That’s all I really needed. Then I turned around and looked a the All-in-Ones, with big monitors and touch screens. Oh, my, did they look inviting with about a thousand apps on the screen that one could flip through with a finger, and the colors, and the details, and a monitor about twice as big as our first black and white television set. O, my, I’m such a quick sell. Ten minutes later I signed for the All-in-One, a Lenovo (which salesperson Jack told me was the company that took over IBM, a China-based takeover). Okay, I can live with an IBM with a Mandarin accent. I brought it home. I spent about an hour untangling all the cords and wires connected the old beast. I got everything undone and the old beast carted away. Then I lovingly set up the new baby. Very few cords and wires attached to the back of the monitor. Turned it on and went exploring through those thousand apps. How very complicated. And it seemed that nearly every app took me to the Internet where I could buy service for a really bargain price or I could rent the service monthly or annually for a really bargain price. And I discovered that my new Lenovo didn’t come with any version of Office, no Works or Word word processor. So I tried to download my old Office version for which I paid a pretty penny eight years ago. Nope. Not acceptable. I could, though, get a free month of Office, after which I could buy the new package or rent it by the month, either at a really bargain price. All I need it the Word word processor. Don’t need all that other Office stuff. So what do I do after my trial month is up? I don’t know. Then I tried to re-install my HP printer. Woops! Can’t be installed because I would need a driver upgrade. Go to the HP website, get an 800 number for tech support, connect with a young man who spoke very broken English. Why must nearly all tech support personnel have to be located in some other world location? Young man says, “Why, yes, Mr. Travis. We can send you a download for an 8.1 HP driver. However, the fee will be $99for the tech service.” I sucked a bit of shocked air and say, “But I can buy a new printer for less than that.” Silence. I say, “I think I’ll just buy a new printer.” Click. So much for tech support. And ever since I’ve been hit-or-miss learning about my new Lenovo, I keep getting popup windows telling me how much I need protection from all the bad guys out there in the ether, just waiting to hack into my computer and steal all my money and all muy personal information, and each service can be provided for a very nominal fee. I took my old and new computers into Best Buy to get a data transfer, which would cost me only a nominal fee of $80, and it would take only eight or nine days. I brought both computers home and transferred data the old-fashioned way, onto DVD discs out of one, downloaded onto the other. Then I deleted all the old stuff from the old beast in preparation to give it to my grandson, who now has a really old beast and needs a replacement. Then out to Best Buy tomorrow to buy a new printer to go with my new Lenovo. And then I’ll be back in the blogging business. Whew!