But, this one has Windows 7 and I feel that I must take up arms against a sea of troubles. My cursor hovers over a flock of pop-up windows! Dang things!

Doesn't help that I slipped on the ice yesterday and have an especially sore back. Sitting here on my can isn't all that comfortable . . . for hours on end!

Just eliminated all my toolbars thru some keyboard machination and had to restart the computer just come back with the "back" button!

This thing has "bing" and I'm in something of a sweat to get back to "google" -- mostly, I need to get back to Firefox before Internet Explorer drives me nutz!

How do I turn on the spell chequer? Youz guyz don't want me left entirely to my own devices. I can assure u that me and fonetics don't sea I to eye.

digitS'

Use Firefox for your browser.

Dan

Don’t get me started on computers!

TOO LATE!

Recently I’ve just been trying to keep my Dell’s dementia from worsening till I do. I had to take my netbook in to get a little piece that broke off while I was on vacation fixed, so I don’t have ANY backup right now, and it’s been keeping my blood pressure WAY up! Every now and then when I start this thing it goes into some kind of an I’ve-had-a-stroke-diagnostic and runs a whole list of ERRORS and then, apparently, "fixes" the errors, because it eventually boots up and gets going again. I hold my breath every time it does it! Apparently I have some corrupted files—but, hey—I’m into corruption! And other times, when it does load, I come up with a 513 error message on my AOL email and it won’t load. Well I finally found something online that seems to have helped that! I added more space to my browser cache, tho, my "computer problem/optimization scan" ran yesterday and told me I now have too much space in my browser cache!!! and did I want to automatically fix it! I went back in and decreased the space by a little, but not as low as it was, and my email is still working, and I don’t know what the "computer" is gonna tell me next time it looks for "problems"—but never seems to find the REAL problems!

And speaking of things being "eliminated," a couple weeks ago I—in trying to get rid of junk to keep this thing working—went into the Windows Installer Cleanup program to get rid of some of the "left over" files that are used to install the programs you want—like Adobe or Java. I had done it before, carefully checking after each deletion to be sure everything still worked, and it had. This time I decided I was gonna get rid of most of the remaining "installation leftovers" so I started deleting things—AND THEN I tried to open Word! And I tried! And I tried! WORD WAS GONE!!! I had a heart attack—and then I tried again! I had a stroke—and then I tried again! It was GONE! Every time when I was deleting the install files I got the message: This file will be PERMANENTLY removed from your computer! What have I done??? My WHOLE LIFE is in Word! I restarted the computer—and it was still GONE! I was still sitting here in a cold sweat when my best-friend-from-Denver-who-now-lives-in-New-York called and I could hardly talk! I started to explain what had happened (she knows some stuff about computers! She’s young!) and we were "discussing" possibilities! I kept saying, "but on all the TV shows they can get stuff back out of computers that have been smashed/burned/had acid dumped on them/been in the ocean for 10 years........... She said: That’s on TV! In the meantime, just before she called I had set the computer to do a System Restore, which, luckily went back to a restore point that was only a few hours earlier! So we’re talking, and the computer is doing its thing! It finally finishes and says I need to restart it, so I’m "trying" to talk, with my heart attacked heart still racing, and trying to restart the computer at the same time! Restarting it takes "a while!" Even under th BEST of circumstances this thing takes a LONG time to load! It finally comes back up and I try to go to Word! It’s there! OMG! Then I REALLY couldn’t talk! I was laughing and crying and shaking—and crying! I x’d out and brought it back up again—and did it again—and again! It really was there!

Now, you might say, why was I worried? Didn’t I have everything backed up????? NOT!!!!! I had never taken the time to figure out how to do that! Most of my computer education has happened during times of crisis!!! My best-friend-from-Denver-who-now-lives-in-New-York went with me to help me buy my first computer, and then she had to do something else, so I brought it home, plugged it in, and started using it!

YES!!!!! I have now figured it all out, and I have Word (and Picasa) TOTALLY backed up on CD’s! But for about a half an hour while my life was GONE I was TOTALLY freaking out! My friend said there’s a difference between deleting install files for things I’ve installed, and install files for the things that came preinstalled in the computer! I GUESS! The (permanently removed) Word install file is now back in the Installer Cleanup—and I have no intentions of deleting it or anything else—even if they ARE useless files!

Computer rant over, but I have a question! I’ve always heard really good things about Firefox, but I’ve always wondered if it has a "blank" screen like AOL does. If I don’t have any windows open, AOL is just a blank light blue screen. No ads or (un)important information all over the screen, and nothing "bopping" around here and there! I HATE animated stuff—even when it’s supposed to be "fun" stuff like animated smileys! And I absolutely, totally and completely HATE tabbed browsing! As in IE! I HATE IE!!! (Had to use it a couple weeks ago when I couldn’t get AOL—which also has corrupted files in it by now—to come up. Using IE totally inclines me to smash my computer!)

So—does Firefox have "tabbed" browsing, like IE, and does it have a "blank" screen when you’re not doing anything—obviously still with a toolbar on the top, and a tray (or whatever other names it goes by) on the bottom?

When I get the Apple it’ll obviously come with their browser, but I’ve been thinking of trying Firefox in it too, but won’t do it till I can find out more about it, and I searched and can’t find anything that shows what the Firefox screen looks like, and if you do your browsing with "tabs" or in individual windows—which I often have a dozen or so open at a time in AOL! But then, I’ll probably always keep AOL anyway, so maybe it’s a moot question—but I’ve always been curious anyway!

Congratulation on your new computer, Digit, and deepest sympathy that you have Windows 7! That was out already when I got my netbook and I opted for XP—since I was familiar with it and since I had heard some bad things about 7. It sounds like I made the right choice! I had never heard of Bing, so I googled it and found it’s just a search engine. AOL defaults to a google search, but I also have a separate link to the google search screen on my toolbar. That’s easy to do—as in if I can do it....! Just search for the google search screen and when you find it add it to your toolbar and pick an appropriate icon for it so you’ll remember what it is—like a lightbulb! Well that seems logical to me! Once it’s in the toolbar all you have to do is click it and use the google search rather than the Boink—uh, I mean—bing one! LOL! I have the Penthius (Ghost Whisperer) search screen on my toolbar too! Every now and then the AOL one quits, and Penthius seems to work no matter what! Only thing I don’t like about it is it doesn’t open search results I click on in a new window—and it doesn’t have an image search!

I’ve never had a "browser" that corrects spelling! The only place I get spelling checked is in Word and in my email! Do some browsers actually check spelling when you’re typing in forums and stuff? In my experience most forums either have their own spell checking or they don’t and then you just keep your fingers crossed!

Get well soon, Digit! Both you AND your browser!
Skybird

Took about three hours to set up and transfer all the info from the manic-depresive one, but I got all the book marks, emails, photos, movies, files, etc on the new one. With Firewire, it would have been a few minutes, but the old one is too ancient to have that plug in, so we had to use ethernet.

Goofed up a tad, ordered the bluetooth keyboard and super duper cordless mouse instead of the USB equivalent, and if I can't get used to it in a couple of weeks, will buy some honker of an ergonomic thing with whole big separated key board for each hand, at least 2 foot across, so it looks like I'm playing some huge pipe organ in church.

I've fallen on the ice about three times and luckily, haven't hurt myself. Today got up into the 40's, and melted of a huge amount of drive way ice.

The automatic spell checker is everywhere on anything I type, it comes with the basic program. DW and DS use Firefox, I use the Mac program Safari what with being perfectly happy with it.

So if Firefox has tabbed browsing I won’t be going there. Since you mentioned Safari, David, I just checked it out, and it looks like you can either use tabs OR windows, so if that’s what comes with the iMac, I just might actually use it! But I’ll need to use it for quite a while before I decide to discontinue my AOL. I’ve been using that since my first computer (needed it, at the time, to be able to access the work stuff I needed) and I really like it and the mail system (use gmail and yahoo too, and like AOL better). But it looks like I can also open Safari with the "blank" screen I like, so that will definitely be worth checking out!

David, I also decided to check out your new keyboard—and your Magic Mouse, if that’s the one you have, and I found some info I think you might be interested in. I’m going to send it to you in a PM (thot I had your address around here somewhere, but I guess I don’t!), so be looking for an email from Skybird!

Thanks for the info on Firefox, Jennifer, and, if you think YOU’RE happy I got my Word back—OH, MY, just think how happy ~~ I ~~ am! I was already considering spending a couple hundred dollars if I needed to, to recover it! I KNEW it had to be in the computer SOMEWHERE, but if the Restore hadn’t fixed it, I didn’t have a clue what to do next!

My friend suggested maybe I should "try" Geeks on Call—but I had already used them one time shortly before my HP went bonkers and the guy who came appeared to know very little more than I did, he was here for 4 or 5 hours (I was getting so hungry I finally had some cookies—and feeling bad to be eating in front of him, I gave him some too!), and it cost me over $200! NOTHING was fixed, and a few weeks later my HP died an ignoble death! So glad I didn’t have to try to find somebody competent this time!

Skybird

digitS' :o)

:-)

Renaissance

Rocky Mountain Gardening

Rocky Mountain Gardening

I still can't use Comic Sans font or change color on any font except the default, and my musical notes are missing . . ? (I know everyone is disappointed so I'll look harder ;o). DD tells me that a "thumb something-or-other" can be used to transfer things from 1 computer to the other. This is a mystery but blank CD's are absent from the house since she moved them out a couple of years ago . . . I'll need to find the proper corner of the office supply store to look in to find a "thumb something-or-other" or a disc . . .

Thank you for allowing me some confusion and providing help! I'm almost ready to talk peppers & snapdragons & tomatoes & calendulas &, &, & . . .

digitS'

Digit, your problems with Win 7 worry me, I'll be there soon. I'm sure by now someone has told you a "thumb something or other" is more commonly called a flash drive. I'll have to pick up one of those, too, since one of my problems is that the old machine doesn't recognize when there is a CD in the drive.

Skybird, glad you recovered your Word program. I know that awful panic feeling when you delete something you didn't mean to.

Sigh, what good are computers that are too tricky for normal, non-computer geek people to operate! Glad the industry is amusing itself with technical stuff most of us neither need nor want.

When you get yours, the smaller screen is enormous. I dunno what anybody would want the large screen for, except maybe to watch movies or edit them or something.

And I just tried to find what size screens they have, and it looks like even if I get their smallest screen (as near as I can figure, 21") it’s gonna be WAY big compared to the one I have now—15"—which I’ve always considered to be plenty big for a computer! What size did you get?

Don’t think I’m gonna have any trouble getting the screen—or anything else—working right when I first get it tho. I’ve decided I am definitely gonna get the one-to-one! They’ll get it all working right for me and transfer all my data and stuff, and I’ll have all the little-olde-lady help I need whenever I can’t figure something out or if something seems to be going wrong. IMO the electronics industry has a MAJOR problem these days! They sell you a not-cheap piece of equipment and when you take it home and it doesn’t work, they make you pay to figure out what’s wrong with it! Oh, for the good old days! I know I’m paying for the help in this case too, but if I want/need to, I can positively HAUNT them, and it won’t cost any more! Between the one-to-one and the genius bar, they’re gonna get to know me really well!!! But I’m sure glad you figured out how to adjust your screen to the level you want!

How are you liking that new keyboard by now? If it’s the one I looked at online, it doesn’t have a number pad and I definitely won’t be getting it. I can’t function without a number keypad!

Since you’re using Safari, are you also using the Apple word processing program—iWork I think? If you are I have a question! Are you able to click on the margins of any particular document and drag them to a new position, or do you need to go to format to change them, and then go back to the document to see if you like where they are, or if you need to change them again?

WindWhipped, I’m sorry to hear about the demise of your computer too! It kinda looks like winter must be a normal time for computers to expire! My original HP died in winter too! Congratulations on the new one, and let us know how it’s working out for you when you get it.

BTW, Digit and WindWhipped, a couple days ago I got an advertising card in the mail from Dell that states: "Windows 7 — Your PC, Simplified!" I was thinking of the two of you, and I hope you find out—at least eventually—that that’s true! Good Luck!

Digit, how are you and YOUR new computer getting along by now?

Good luck everybody,
Skybird

The mouse has an on-off switch at the bottom. It has a touch pad feature on the top, so you can scroll stuff just by brushing it with a finger tip, and depending on where your hand is when touching it, the clicks do all kinds of different stuff. Real clear explanation, that.

I got their base line model, the 21 inch screen - its huge. I wish I'd gotten the larger keyboard with the number pad.

I'm new to Pages as well, but my 17 year old son says it's a great word processing program - I'll be figuring it out as I go along. I'll try this and report back..... with Apple computers there are usually at least 5 different ways of doing any one thing.

I have to admit that I appreciated each step Microsoft has made with Windows, altho' I missed a couple of them along the way.

The "flock" of little pop-up windows is mostly an internet explorer issue. Let's say that you have 3 internet windows open and each have 3 tabs open. Every time your cursor drops down to the IE window -- all 9 little windows pop up!!

Firefox doesn't do that. It will show you the main windows and not all the tabs at once.

I like tabs and I've learned to make use of the right click on the mouse to load a linked page in a tab while staying right on what I'm reading. That seems kind of wonderful to me!

Now that I have a CD to carry back and forth from the old computer in the basement - to the new computer here in the South Window - I've been able to use what is on the old documents.

Thank you for letting me know what a flash drive is, WW!

Now,

1. what's a "network" ? Could I run a wire (2 wires) between the 2 computers and save myself some steps (on much too steep stairs)? And,
2. what kind of wire would carry the information?
3. Would different operating systems be a problem?

Are there online sources other than the highly profession techies on GardenWeb where people go for this kind of information . . ?

Steve

When I finally get it done, I’ll be getting a Mac this time, so I will be HAPPILY out of the MicroSoft MAZE, and not be having nightmares about the incessant updates anymore! The better security, without the ad infinitum updates is what originally led me to checking out Apple—but I also love the fact that the Mac is sans-CPU! So I will, for the first time, be diverging from the PC World into a whole new area of discovery!

On to more important matters!

I suspect you’ll wind up with some pretty good info here at RMG about connecting your two computers, but I also found this site that might help you figure it out. It sounds like the most limiting factor might by whether or not your two operating systems are compatible—and I can’t help you at all with that, but maybe somebody else around here can!

David, if the Magic Mouse has a touch pad on top like laptops do, I probably won’t get it! The reason I got a mouse to go with my netbook is because I don’t like those little paddie things! But I will check it out when I manage to get down to the Apple store—as a matter of face, I suspect I’m going to be told about it whether or not I want to be!!! But it’s really nice to have some idea about what’s going on before I get there to ask questions and become inundated by the information I’m getting! If I could find a plain old fashioned mouse with an on/off switch, I’d be very happy! I used some of those newfangled Lithium batteries in my camera when I was on vacation, and they were WONDERFUL for that since I didn’t have to carry extra batteries with me when I was hiking, but they’re REALLY expensive, so for now I’ll just keep using cheap ones in the mouse—and taking them out overnite! I DO hope the Lithium ones get cheaper by vacation time next year!

AND —LOL about Apple usually having five different ways to do any one thing! Most of the time I’m just happy if I can figure out ONE way to do something! But I know what you mean, ‘cause when I was checking out Safari I found that you can set up the screen pretty much however you want to—at least that’s the impression I have—and that’s what the one-to-one is gonna help me figure out!

I don’t think I’m gonna get any of that blue tooth stuff! (Who on earth is it that makes up these new terms for electronics stuff these days? My friend in NYC got tired of calling her blackberry and blackberry, so now she calls it a lingonberry!) I have no intentions of ever using a blue tooth (I prefer WHITE teeth!), and I also have no plans to ever use my cell phone for anything other than a phone!) I see all these people (especially when I’m working) running around hopelessly attached to their phones and blackberries and iphones, and wonder if they have a life! It’s sorta like when they suddenly don’t have access to/can’t use their "devices," they seem to start an internal self destruct process! "I’m not attached to anything anymore! How can I go on! I’m out here all by myself! Where’s my connection???" When I was little—real little—we didn’t even have a phone, and somehow I and all the other phoneless people in the world survived, and I don’t plan to ever get myself into the position where I feel like I "just can’t go on" without my portable electronic devices! Don’t ever want to be without a computer again tho! :-) And glad I have the netbook—but it won’t be traveling around with me too much!

Electronics minimalist,
Skybird

Otherwise, I think networks connect through a router - and that is the sum total of my knowledge on the subject. If you want to set up a permanent network with both computers hooked up to the internet, you should probably ask your internet provider, they should know.

Skybird, I'm with you about the phones. I had lunch this weekend with a friend who has a blackberry. She said her phone service (including internet on the berry, cause who could live without a constant connection) cost her $170/mo. Are you kidding, that's over $2000 a year for phone service!!! And she rarely ever calls anyone on it - just texts and e-mails. I probably should mention that not only do I still have my land line, but all my phones are corded and plugged into the wall. Don't even own a cell phone, but suppose I will have to eventually succumb.

Here's my computer story for the day. After much dilly-dallying, finally decided on the HP MS214 all-in-one because it was priced right, had what I wanted but not too much stuff I didn't want, and it is cute and compact. Bought direct from HP and got free 2-day shipping. Arrived today, speedy quick. Looked good out of the box, then finally unpacked the keyboard last thing. Un pocito problema. El keyboard es en español. Very interesting, regular n + another key for ñ, right side up ?, + upside down ?, and of course all the key labels were in Spanish. Had a little trouble getting the customer service agent in India to understand the problem, but finally got it through to her. Then I had to box up the computer, because they can't just send a new keyboard, noooo, I have to send the whole thing back and have them send out a whole new one. And of course there is no 2-day air on this one! Sheesh! This better be worth it!

I sure hope they’re not making you pay to send your problema back to them!

I still have, and love, my land line too, WW. When a friend (accidentally) calls me on my cell, I ask them to call back on the land line! Cell phone conversation is just too choppy and unnatural sounding as far as I’m concerned—especially if both people are on a cell—and most of the people I know only use cells! And I do have a wireless phone around here somewhere, but I never got around to hooking it up and "programming" it! It’s still in the box! I need to have the cell when I’m working, and, I have to admit, I’m glad to have it in the car with me when I’m out somewhere! It really has become a nice "safety" thing to carry around with me. But a funny story! Almost eight years ago now, when I was still commuting to SFO, I got back to DEN, dead tired and freezing because it was winter here and it wasn’t winter in SFO, and I didn’t have a coat with me, and when I finally got to my car at the park-and-ride lot, my battery was dead! I tried and tried, and finally gave up and decided I’d have to call AAA and wait for them—this was close to midnite! I got out of the car with my purse and headed toward the bus shelter, where I assumed there would be a pay phone when I suddenly realized I had a phone in the purse I was carrying with me! I turned around, got back in my car, locked the door, and called AAA! But you can tell how used to using it I was! I won’t ever make that mistake again, but I really don’t use the phone much more now than I did back then! I only pay about $20 a month with the corporate discount I get, but I have texting DISABLED! Right after I got a new phone a couple years ago I got a spam text message, and I discovered I had been charged for it! Paying for people to send me junk? I don’t think so!

Good luck with getting your problema fixed,
Skybird

There is a slot for SD memory cards, but I can't get the thing out of the camera, its stuck in there.

The power has been blinking off about every 10 minutes this morning with all the snow, and the computer just shuts itself down each time. Which, I guess, is a good thing.

Skybird, HP does have an 800 # now, at least. I do like HP products, they have always done well for me; but they do have a bad rep for customer service and I was a little leery about that before ordering, but I figured, heck, what are the chances I'll have a problem (or problema)!
And they did pay for me to ship it back so if they send me a good one in return all I will have lost is a little time, which, of course, is aggravating in itself.

Pocito by the way is spelled poquito during those times when we are awake and functioning.