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My feelings for my laptop are much like my feelings for my husband. Sometimes I love it madly and want to shower it with affection. And sometimes I hate it with a passion, and want to hurl it against the wall in disgust.
Over this past week, my feelings have fallen firmly into the latter category. Initially my laptop began behaving erratically and causing me considerable inconvenience. It became inexplicably slow, taking minutes to find a website, and occasionally grinding to a halt in the middle of an application. But still, I was understanding. I know that laptops are moody, and can fall into depressions. They simply need a nice new software update, or a refreshing defragmentation, and they’ll be right as rain again.
So I was gentle. I didn’t yell, or hit the keyboard. I simply updated and defragged and scanned, and waited for the fog to pass.
But the fog didn’t pass. It got worse.
My laptop began freezing and closing at the most inopportune moments. Links stopped working. Videos stopped playing. And, in the cruelest twist of all, my daughter’s Club Penguin account refused to load. Now, I can cope if something is hurting me, but if it starts hurting my child, I do not like that at all.
It was time for serious action. I did frantic internet searches on how to fix the problem, which was challenging, as my computer kept crashing in the middle of the exercise. Still, I resolutely persisted, and eventually found the answer. I had to uninstall software A and then install software B and then reinstall software A again, and it would all be resolved. Simple.
I felt proactive and proud. I was a woman of the web. I was independent and free. I didn’t need an IT person to make me happy!
I uninstalled, installed, and reinstalled, rebooted the computer, then announced to my daughter that she could come and play her game.
There was just one small problem. The computer wasn’t fixed.
I was stunned. I’d been so sure! I’d been so confident! I’d promised my daughter I could do it! I had to fix it. I had to make things right!!!
I began obsessively trawling through the internet, trying dozens of different ways to get my computer working again. I asked Twitter’s advice. I phoned a friend. I stayed up till the wee small hours of the night loading and re-loading. I stayed up until I was sobbing with frustration, ready to give up my online career forevever, and retreat to my office with a pen and some paper. Nothing helped. I had to admit defeat.
This morning I took my laptop to a nice shop down the road, where they promised to fix it for a small fee. The man was very kind and didn’t even yell at me for installing all those weird programs over the past 24 hours. And my daughter has been very understanding about not being able to play her games.
As for me, well, the ink made my hands all messy, and I couldn’t read my own writing anyhow. Turns out my computer is even more like my husband than I thought. It makes me crazy, it makes me cry, but I just can’t live without it.
Twitter – http://twitter.com/KerriSackville
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kerri-Sackville/134058363333378
Lindat44 says
December 12, 2011 at 4:33 pmOne word for you – MAC
Gareth says
December 12, 2011 at 5:08 pmWithout getting into a pointless, annoying and futile Apple v PC argument. That’s not good advice Lindat44 – Macs will slowdown and crash just the same as PC’s, otherwise there would be no need for Apple service centres or the hideously expensive Apple Care Protection Plan. The only thing different between a Mac and a PC is the Mac will cost you three times as much to purchase and twice as much to fix.
Kerri I can’t believe you didn’t just get your husband to fix your laptop. That’s what husbands do, regardless of the product, we take a look at it and almost magically all sorts of information floods into our heads, giving us the ability to fix anything. If we are unable to fix it, then it was obviously too far gone and needed replacing anyway.
lynda says
December 12, 2011 at 6:13 pmI’m new to all this tech Kerri – but why didn”t you just ask your daughter to fix it? that usually works a treat. mine is a 2005 Mac and I NEVER thought it would be slow – until lately- 10secs feels like a week- what have we come to!!!oh I must say mine was bequeathed to me by a friend last year – she said it was too slow for her- I was perfectly content ’til I knew (vaguely) what I was doing! Now Grrrr(but I’m still grateful Halina!) ..