Sunday, January 30, 2011

'UNQUIRKING' COMPUTER QUIRKS

Not quite up with the lark, but not far off it....and this is Sunday. Where we live, Sunday is meant to be a day of rest..... fine if you can get it.

I HATE COMPUTERS, ESPECIALLY P.C's. Why on earth did I spend so much time educating myself about them....it can be a real bain. The joy of giving a special present is subsumed into total frustration when configuring the darn things. 

This one has Windows 7 as its platform. It was nice to play around with when the reselling company adverts didn't dart and flash out at you all the time.  The computer companies are determined to stuff the buyer with subliminal and not so subliminal advertising, trial products, and, of course, place theirs and others cookies onto the system. This is one purchaser who can deal with those tricks, though it takes hours, nay, days, to do everything. 

Getting into and using a browser of your choice,was a doddle. The next hurdle was hopping through the maker's presentation internet page with all its advertising and flashing gizmos. The internet settings were hidden deep, probably on purpose, to make it difficult to set a clean blank browser page. I've got one!:>>

Finding the Microsoft email application was like seeking the exit to a maze. Why? (I am used to not having a stand alone email client like Outlook Express, though I could have one if I wanted it). It beats me why finding the email application has to be so circuitous, to the extent that I had to search for advice as to its whereabouts, on the web. Once located it was a matter of setting up the mail connection to the internet service provider.  
:??: 
Fun and games (not!), the damn thing would send email but not receive it. I wasted hours going through the configuration of the email connection.  I checked every dot many times, tried variations of the input details; phoned brother-in-law who covered exactly the same ground I had many times already.
:**:

In the quiet of the early morning, sitting on my own, I found the solution to the problem that was stopping us receiving email. It was nothing obvious; all the data inputs were correct. It was a quirk of the pre-loaded operating programme, which had to be manipulated. If there is such a description, the application had to be .....'unquirked'.

3 comments:

Vincent said...

You sound pretty skilled, on top of your game here. (I0146ve been in the computer industry since 1965, and hate those machines just as much as you, if not more.)

Vincent said...

I’ve bought a delightful gizmo, of which I cannot speak too highly: The Kindle Reader. Believe it or not, it beats reading the old-fashioned paper book, though those things have inestimable value as totem objects.

ZACL said...

You please me greatly, Vincent, when you assure me, knowing as I do, about your computer skills. Thank you.

I am hoping the worst of the annoyances are over. Though when I hear a little question about whether something or another can be transferred from an older system to the new one,via a flash pen, I am shutting off.

The kindle must have been one of the top sellers in the latter part of 2010. I have met an awful lot of people who have either treated themselves to it, or got one as a present. One has arrived in our house.

When I have time to sit and read, rather than messing with configuring PC's or racking my brains about resolving a computer problem, or doing the daily chores, I hope to try it out. Meantime, books move on slowly.

A very disabled 92 year old I know, has just purchased his second kindle....can't live without it, he devours books. He dropped the first kindle, it was still in warranty, but.....his fault. e-readers are wonderful devices for the housebound, who can, and are willing to learn to use them