Posted on 01/23/2017 6:17:40 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator
I was so looking forward to the inauguration, after refusing to watch the two preceding ones. Unfortunately, fate intervened.
Our little family has had some rough luck the past month, and last week was especially so. Fortunately I could kick back and do anything on my trusty used computer, and had been watching a great deal of old movies. Thursday night while surfing I saw a couple of junk tabs open with Firefox allegedly wanting me to download something or other for safety. I've seen these before and have always just closed them. However, it's possible that this time I just sort of reflexively clicked on one of them.
Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to run a virus scan before going to bed. The next morning I turned on my faithful old computer and a file had been removed or corrupted, preventing Windows from loading. I missed the inauguration to run the computer to the shop, but returned in time to hear the latter part of Trump's speech.
I basically abandoned the computer for the weekend, hoping against hope that they would somehow be able to restore it. I knew better, but I told myself it was a possibility. Because I knew what would happen: Windows had to be uninstalled and reinstalled, which means a week of scouring the Net for all the programs I now must download all over again, of logging back in to all my accounts, and downloading my personal files (this last is the easiest because I have them on disk).
Well, now I have my computer back. But you must understand that in the twenty years I've owned my own PC, I have only once in all that time bought a brand-spanking new one out of the office supply store (and it didn't last as long as any of the others). The others have all been custom-built/second hand/used jobs. That is what this one is. And there's another little wrinkle in the plot: it's operating system is still Windows XP (which is what the repair guy installed back on it). Now I know that XP has been unsupported for some three years or so, but I already had everything on my computer and everything worked fine. Now there's a problem. Since I no longer have all the stuff on it and have made several attempts to download them, I find that many of them will no longer install on XP at all. What I have here is a bare-bones job that will allow me to read sites like FR and my beloved pony fics and listen to music on YouTube (thanks to html5), but I'm not going to be able to do anything else. I can't even get Flash to install on this thing now! This cannot stand.
So it appears I must screw up all my courage and actually buy a brand new computer. This is extremely difficult for me at any time as I am disabled and on a fixed income. But it is especially so at this time of year when so many annual and semi-annual bills are coming due. But it's either that or continue to pay a monthly DSL subscription and not be able to get my money's worth out of it.
This is going to be a hairy thing to try to do. And I don't at this moment know how long it will take. I can only say that until I have a new computer and get it up and running, you aren't going to hear a great deal from me. As I said, I'll do a little reading, but that's about all.
It's really too bad when you consider that until that stupid virus on Thursday night, I had an outdated computer that did it all. I had no complaints whatsoever. I enjoyed every form of media online. But one little tab that wasn't closed correctly and one failure to do a virus scan sealed my fate.
I hope I'll be back soon, but for now it's day-to-day. I just wanted those of you who are on my ping lists to know what happened.
In the immortal words of Derpy Hooves, "I just don't know what went wrong!"
Ping to my “homies.”
You are a very distinctive voice here, I look forward to your return.
Umm... Free Republic was down for most of the time you described, including during and after the inauguration, so it may be that your computer crashed at an auspicious time. None of us were able to access it either!
Can you state the equipment you have? Processor, memory, hard drive size, etc?
Is a chromebook an option based on how you use computers? I have an acer chromebook laptop I paid 120$ for (refurb from walmart) about 2 years ago and I can browse any modern website. It also allows access to a terminal and ssh for connecting remotely to linux systems which I need for work.
I'm afraid I don't know any of that stuff. I just know it's an old used Gateway with Windows XP.
That's very kind of you to say.
Did you format the computer, or just reinstall XP?
Get the least expensive Mac (Mini or laptop) you can afford. An old hand-me-down might be OK if the hardware still functions. Mac OS X 10.6.8 still works fine for me, except I can't upgrade Firefox beyond version 48.0.2.
Get a very inexpensive Flash 8GB thumb stick for file portability.
Good Luckies.
Hmm. You apparently have the idea that I was unable to access FR during that period. That is not what happened.
A virus zapped my computer rendering it unable to load Windows. I was shut out of Windows and the Internet altogether. I'm enjoying minimum access right now (but not very much!).
Don’t know what your budget is, but I just ordered this one a few days ago:
Costco offers a two-year warranty, and—if you purchase it with their credit card—they add an additional two-year warranty (for a total of four years).
Good luck!
I know you’re on a fixed income, but computer-rated incidentals are sometimes penny wise pound foolish. 100% of my internet activity is now done on an iPad. Even when using my laptop for work, I have my iPad and iPhone 7 Plus nearby to get info. Going from a laptop to an iPad is like going from a Macintosh Classic with a modem to a new MacBook Air. iPads go for years with no maintenance necessary, never infected with viruses, etc.
I've had two of them and they've served me well .. you won't get state of the art, but the pricing is very reasonable .. buy site to store and eliminate shipping costs.
I didn't do anything. The guy at the shop did. And I don't know how far he went, but I know he reinstalled XP.
I'm afraid I'm still a technological illiterate. I just read stuff and watch old movies online. But not right now, unfortunately.
....on second thought....Stop by your local library a few times a week...log in, catch up.. Think clearly....no sense in climbing in a trash bin
Here’s hoping all the pieces come together to allow your return here more quickly than you expect. Take care.
Your old Windows XP computer should be powerful enough to run one of the less-resource-heavy flavors of Linux, like Lubuntu, with no problem — if you are using a fairly basic set of applications (web browser, e-mail client, word processor, spreadsheet, basic games), it will probably suffice, and not cost anything other than some time to get it installed.
Whatever you decide, I hope to see you back soon.
.. most all of them come with a fresh OS, from Win7 on up.
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