Back Up
Once a month I back up everything I can on my computer.
This is actually quite a bit since I have 3 cds alone filled with pictures. Pictures from an old program called Palace and pictures from my blog / journal (53 folders of pics from the blog alone) . I also save my paint programs in a zip because they are so easy to put on another computer when this one decides to go asta la bye bye.
Of course I also back up the trilogy I wrote, my blog/journal that i copy and paste to Word and who knows what else. All this takes about 2 hours to do.
Most of that time I am huffing and puffing and bored and the occasional curse word slips through my lips...
So how come when I'm done... I feel so much better?!
This is the third computer I've had. I know they don't last much more than 4-5 yrs before I get the shock of a blue screen or worse. Then I panic because I don't know a tech anymore. And I panic because my computer is my link to any life at all. I also panic because I know that sooner or later I have to deal with wires again. Not only am I not a tech... but I'm lucky if I put a plug in the wall correctly, let alone the mass of wires going from the tower to the surge protector to the monitor etc.... It's a test of my stupidity!
Then there's the other panic. This one occurs when we first turn on a new computer, and things I don't even want show up on the Windows bar. And no matter how much you pay for the computer services, you will NOT find someone to talk you through getting them OFF the bar, or how to delete all the crap they put on that you don't want! Ya know I'd be more than willing to pay an extra 100.00 just to have it formatted they way I want it! Which is without all the junk they put on it and all the stuff they put on the start up bar that you don't need starting up when you boot up!
Since I am on a roll here... tell me why I can't buy a new computer with only an 80 or 125 G hard drive?? Why do they have to be so HUGE?? And why if you even ask for a smaller hard drive to they say it won't be any cheaper when it costs a lot to add to a hard drive?? I've been "on line" for 11 yrs now. I have folder and folders and folders and folders of pictures. I have 3 paint programs. I have Word 2000. I have Roxio Media and Print Shop 21 and out of the 125 G hard drive on this machine, I haven't even used 20 gigs!! Hello? Tell me again why I need a 300 gig hard drive! Oh I know the Game folks need it, don't get me wrong... but they sure don't want to bring the price of a new computer down when you want LESS than they are offering.
Ok.. I'm sorry.. I got off on this subject and I didn't mean to.. hard to believe when I started this I felt fairly good about backing up all my.... stuff.
It's pretty sad that an "object" can come to mean so much to me. I don't own a cell phone or an Ipod, and I doubt I ever will. But somehow I managed to ask enough questions to learn just enough to make me feel like I need a computer.
I don't want to jinx myself and say this one has not been a lemon, so I won't say it. I just hope it lasts a few more years before i have to get a new one .. I really, really, REALLY do NOT want Vista.... and I don't care how much anyone else likes it! I like XP!
Ok... I'll get off the soap box now!
posted by DesLily | 5:38 AM
10 Comments:
I know exactly what you mean about having to delete all of that CRAP off of the computer when you first buy it...I really wish you could just buy a computer how YOU wanted it. But that's impossible these days unless you know how to build one yourself...and that ain't happenin' over here. I still need a new computer after my last one kicked the bucket...Still using mom's. The sad thing is, I've gotten used to it. I'd kill to have my own again! Oh, and you're not alone in not wanting Vista! I think it's awful! Give me XP anyday!
I know how you feel about being attatched to something, don't worry about it. I love my computer, but I can't go anywhere without my little iPod shuffle. It's my life in song form; I constantly am listening to it. (Which also explains why I'm on the computer so much, it's usually recharging.)
And people believe that we need all sorts of things we don't need. Give me the internet, AIM, and Microsoft Word, and I'm set for life.
Chris: No way to get XP anymore and from what I remember when Vista came out.. you can upgrade to Vista but if you get a computer with Vista on already.. you can't downgrade to xp things won't work right. Not that I would know how to put xp on a machine anyway *sigh*
nicole: I've seen lots of people "attached to their computer" for a few years at a time but things change and generally they leave.. for a life lol. I'm on aol so I have IM, and word and internet.. the only other thing I do like having is paint programs! I used to love card making programs too.. then they got so complicated you need a class to learn them...so I no longer have them
I love pictures of people's computers, so now I can imagine you sitting there e.mailing or posting on your blog. My last PC gave up last Oct. after only two years. Vista had just come in and I desperately didn't want it on my new PC. Luckily there were so many problems with it that a few places were still selling PCs with XP and I managed to get one from DELL. I've been attached to my computer for ten years now and I don't seem to be growing out of it at all. It's getting worse if anything. It's all these interesting people who live inside it. LOL.
Goodness! I'd be pretty upset if any of my blog was ever deleted from blogger so it would probably be a good idea if I get hubby to back up mine too! Thankfully he's tech savvy so I don't have to worry about the computer files too much (which just consist of my music since I delete the pictures that make it onto my blog most of the time).
Cath: oh lord picturing me doing anything is a horrid thought lol
Ladytink: wow you delete the pics after you upload? wow.. I figure I go thru too much trouble scanning and sizing and playing with most the pictures to delete them lol and then there are times I reuse some. I could easily take them off the computer and only have them on a cd or dvd but that would entail getting the cd out and putting it in the tower if i wanted something lol.. lazy that way. If I deleted all the pics I've used over the years... I can't imagine how little space I'd be using on this big hard drive since even with keeping them all I'm still under 20 gig..including programs!
I hate Vista with a passion. When I got my laptop last year they no longer gave you the option of picking XP...so what I did was downgrade it myself. It can be done, but to get everything working again you need to find the proper drivers and whatnot...thankfully, I had my boyfriend's help. It was a lot of trouble, but SO worth it.
I should be more conscientious about backing up my stuff...one of these days I'm gonna run out of luck. It's great that you do it so often! I really should follow your example.
nymeth: oh I so don't want vista lol.. although a friend of my sons who is a computer geek did say there is something that can be changed to make vista work like xp. But it's one of those things only a geek can do! lol Yeah, I did hear that you can't just simply downgrade once a computer has vista on it, and I know you can even "special order xp " on them anymore... I wonder if one can be ordered with no OS on it at all?? I mean.. I have xp on cd here since it's what came with this computer couldn't any tech put it on an "empty" tower???
Any Techie reading this feel free to respond!!!
Oh Deslily, what a rant! You are so funny. Go Mac next time. So much more user friendly.
I am so impressed with how responsible you are - backing things on disc. Knock on wood, I am very bad about that. I will have to think about it......
You know if you go to Best Buy they will come to your house and set up your computer how you want... for $200/hour. I always see that and laugh bitterly. I will take my chances at that price.
Both my husband and I have aging computers, so we understand the need to back up our computers. We've both seen the blue screen of death more than once.
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