COMPUTER CHRONICLE 4
7/20/00: Buy new APC battery, delivered in about a week, for $84 and change.
8/18/00: 9:40AM: trying Juno (THIRD day: "no connect," and "TAPIEXE: did illegal move and had to be cancelled. And monitor "clicked" like it's HOT!
8/26/00: Throw away notes from PREVIOUS crashes, most recorded except for FIRST set: Crashes: 6/3/92: 1) 1:10 Macrex, 2) 1:15 Macrex, 3) 1:16 Macrex, 4) 1:19 Macrex, no reboot. 6/4/92: 1) 12:35 Macrex, 2) 12:44 Macrex, no reboot, 3) 1:25 Macrex, no reboot, 4) 2:32 Macrex, 5) 3:08 Macrex, 6) 3:14 C:>, 7) 3:15 Macrex, 8) 4:06 Macrex, 9) 10PM WP. 6/7/92: 5:17 WP. 6/9/92 2:13 C:>, 2:15 C:>, 6/21/92 Air conditioner on, WP. NOW I can throw THIS sheet away!
9/15/00: 9:45AM: Mouse won't click. Reset works.
9/28/00: Owen Long replaces modem and "fixes" Internet-entries. $140=$80+$60.
9/29/00: Finish WP, hit "Yes" (I THINK!) on "exit" and screen goes TOTALLY BLANK. Ctl-Alt-Del: Nothing. Turn screen off and on: Nothing. Ctl-Alt-Del FINALLY restarts computer, and WP DOES exit OK when I retry it. No problems?
11/21/00: 7:10PM: Minesweeper causes multi-errors; close MANY programs and RESET.
12/5/00: 12:50PM: Typing PRILET and screen/set SOUNDS an electrical ZAP.
12/9/00: 11AM: Juno: no dial tone, can't connect! IS dial tone on phones. CHECK wiring, OK! RESETTING computer cleared it up at 11:25AM, most frustrating.
12/10/00: 7:50PM: "Not proper QUICKTIME for National Geographic CD-ROMS," but I can't install new. None of three disks work, but I reset and then it WENT!
12/13/00: 10AM: Turn screen on after Internet Explorer yesterday, click on WP and NOTHING goes. IntExp "halt" on Ctl-Alt-Del, then more, then RESET and OK!
1/23/01: 10AM: Couldn't get connection to Juno for new mail, but went to WEB, got connection, and THEN could get mail!
2/3/01: 10:30PM: To Juno to get mail, and "Processing outgoing message" (none) FREZES while ad rolls and ROLLS! RESET after five minutes and goes differently and OK.
2/16/01: 11:37AM: Computer BEEPS 3-4 times! Turn screen ON, NO messages---and I watched "Hackers" last night!
3/26/01: Used Internet ending 9:27AM. Back at 12:40PM and it's FROZEN at 9:27AM. Ctl-Alt-Del 7-8 times and it's OK.
4/30/01: 11:10AM: WP5.1 ends funny: "System dangerously low in resources" and cancel 5-6 EXPLORER programs, but "sky" screen ONLY. Reset. "700mb storage available."
8/26/01: 1AM: Try Juno 3-4 times in 3-4 days, call 1-800-586-6889; try 5: Tech support; 2: problems, 3: cannot connect, and lots of WORDS, but nothing about possible JUNO problem. Hit RESET and it CONNECTS at last! Fantastic!!
8/27/01: 10:35AM: Out of Juno and "illegal operation". WON'T close or box-x click. Won't even Ctl-Alt-Del. RESET and it's OK.
9/4/01: 9:20AM: "1% transmitted, got 6 messages" then STOP. GONG "100%" got TWO messages from Juno!
12/1/01 & 12/3/01: Try Juno, no connect. RESET and try again, and it WORKS.
1/14/02: Sheets of paper on keyboard "ruin" Cindex in G9A index---reset---check G9A and it's OK.
1/17/02: AGAIN Juno not connecting for couple days, RESET and it GOES!!
1/24/02: 10AM: In Juno (which has been OK recently) I GET one message and screen goes BLACK, then blue-screen "bad message" and then ICONS. RESET and try again and it's OK.
7/31/02: In Cindex, I THOUGHT I was in "temp" for HRWT and hit del/all and typed in sq/com to clear---but looked up and saw I was in HRW6T, my FIRST version, and have to look in manual to find "insert/all" to get it back! Of course I could have re-started from the file on B:, but with lots of time!
7/31/02: 2PM: Hit ALT-ENT (I think) in Cindex and it TURNED THE SCREEN PURPLE and put Cindex on lower bar! I can't click on it, and exiting won't return me the "usual" color, and RESET didn't even help, but a "strong-hit" on ALT-ENT again reversed it back, and that happened two or three times in next 3 days!
10/4/02: 2:23PM: Try Juno--no connection and it FREEZES. Reset and it GOES, transferring mail, and I find $320 round-trip LA-Tahiti by Air Tahiti Nui.
10/17/02: Juno doesn't connect, and when I try to get out it FREEZES, and exiting briefly shows the blue "error screen," so I RESET and it eventually goes OK. Still intuit it's connected to FreeCell's numbers getting so large.
10/18/02: Thinking about moving, maybe get a new lap-top as John suggests, but the idea of updating WordPerfect, and Cindex, and transferring files, and getting used to a new setup, is just TOO MUCH and I shelve the idea for now.
10/25/02: 10:30AM: In Word, "open" is frozen. Try restarting twice, then RESET, and OK.
12/16/02: 9AM: Turn on Bernoulli, disks won't INSTALL. RESET the Bernoulli on, but "my computer" still doesn't list it. It won't take disks. Try "Control panel" and "Add new hardware," and memory "clicks" repeatedly, then moves. Many "Iomega" choices, try 8-bit, then try "Iomega" and "Parallel port," and call Owen Long, who's still Doctor Data, and he says I should get a new computer!
12/30/02: Tally number of printer-error pages thrown out: 1998: 41, 1999: 44, with 15 in January and February; 28 in 2000, 6 in 2001, 25 in 2002, none by 8/23/03, but I haven't been printing many indexes lately.
2/28/03: 10:45AM: try 3 times to Juno, but modem "clicks" and "Data errors during transmission." Reset computer and it STILL fails three times by 10:56AM. Try again 3/1/03 at 12:30, it doesn't work, but it goes to Internet and from THERE I got same error, but tried again and got 17 messages!
3/8/03: 9:10AM: In LIST of JV, 1) try KEY "print screen" and no go.
2) try SCREEN "4 print" and no go, but I guess that's print FILE.
3/8/03: 9:25AM: Try "Web" on Juno and get NEW message "Juno web - connecting" and it CRASHES with blue screen and message. Try e-mail and get SAME click-off "Errors encountered." Go AGAIN to e-mail and hit WEB and it connects, and hit "mail flag" and it GOES to get messages WHILE GETTING search results.
3/19/03: FINALLY learn to "print preview" and get to see WHICH pages I want to print and print ONLY those. AND to shut off MODEM (leaving print document INTACT) to STOP cascading Juno ADS that come on after first HOUR on Web. This while I printed the 1990-2000 US stamp lists.
7/27/03: going from Cindex to WP51 gets in ENDLESS LOOP of printed pages, and I have to PRINT from CINDEX, which actually works pretty well.
8/11/03: About 3PM after 5 hours on FreeCell, disk (or fan) HUMS, and I worry, and shut it off. Through here the red "defective wiring" light was on the APC all the time, and it started BEEPING quietly, about every half hour. REALLY worried, then on 8/14/03 blackout, I shut everything off and when I put it back on the RED LIGHT DIDN'T COME ON! Blessings from trauma!
8/23/03: Put "Buy new computer" on my 12-item "final consolidated do-list."
8/25/03: 10:40AM: To Word and press "file" and get "fatal error" TWICE. Reset and get to strange error messages, click them, and then it's OK.
8/30/03: ASK JEEVES: "Largest personal Website" and get 244,000 Web pages on FORTONECITY.COM, which is TRASH, a super-salesman type.
9/10/03: A-drive goes down?? Call Dr. Data: Monday? No WCB. Drive about $17 only. But then it "burps" and works! Stumbles again 9/11, but OK now. Dr. Data says "I thought you were getting a new computer? Your disk drive's OLD!"
10/10/03: With Archive usage, make not to buy more 3.5" diskettes, but future developments tells me to RECYCLE old ones and phase them out gradually!
10/12/03: 5:05PM: Video screen DIMS to BLACK for 4-5 seconds, then brightens. Yellow "on" light is still on. Then 10/13/03: 10:22AM, dims and STAYS OUT!!!
10/13/03: 10:24AM: Click on and off, still dark. Try reset, still off, but at 10:46 "click on and off" brings it on, but shut it off at 10:48 to SAVE it.
10/14/03: Talk to Dr. Data: Crowded note-card: 1) Dell is good, 2) specify I want floppy drive, 3) save E-quote and send to him, 4) mention I'm a small business and check e-value, 5) add CD-ROM burner, 6) get 15" flat-panel monitor, 7) 2400 desktop seems best from Tuesday's NY Times, 8) 18-20" high tower, about 6" wide and 20" deep, with CR-ROM, 9) 40 gig hard disk, 10) 3-D graphics window, 11) 1-year warranty, 12) 4 USP plugs in back. But some of these may be notes that I added after talking to Jarod Richardson. I recall Owen mentioning "Pentium" as better than "Celeron," or whatever. I should try to copy the CINDEX folder to a floppy to see if I can transfer it that way. 7:36PM it dims again; try at 7:38, no good; try at 8PM, ON, and it STAYS on until 10:05, when I finish that bout of proofreading.
10/15/03: Monitor goes off at 11:10 after being on for 30 minutes. Goes on again at 5:15 but off at 5:20. I jot down how to save WordPerfect if the monitor goes in the middle of it: 1) F7 for exit, 2) Y for "save?" 3) ENTER to save, 4) Y to "replace?" 5) Y to exit. And it works a number of times, since each time the monitor comes back, I'm at the icon-screen. Note in Juno that I can go to http:/webmail.juno.com to get MY e-mail on ANOTHER computer, but when Arnold tries it, it can't get any messages that MY computer has already read.
10/16/03: Phone Dell and get Jarod, who says 1) the 15" flat-panel isn't on sale any more, so it'll be $300 for me, but shipping is still free. When I ask about system for processing my old videotapes, he puts on Steve, who sells me Studio Delux version 8 for $200, saying that I'll need to update from 178mg RAM to 1 GIG RAM for $290. I want a CD/DVD burner, which is extra, with the Pentium 4 processor at 2.2GHz, and the memory is 1GB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz, tied, all of which comes out on the two quotes which he e-mails me, but when I print out the "first" one, it's only the Pinnacle system, and then my monitor goes down again, and when I ask Owen, what he says is true: when I replace my dying monitor with Spartacus's replacement, which I lug over from his place about 10/18, and I print it out though the screen is very dim, and it takes me 2-3 days to turn up the brightness so I can read it with a bright contrast from the building at 75 Henry glaring in the sun. He sends a copy of the e-quote to Owen, who looks at it and calls me later. At 10:55 I try the monitor again, and it's off. Try two more times and it doesn't come on. It comes on at 12:40 and goes off in five SECONDS. VERY frustrating. Try again at 1:25 and it's on for a bit, then off. When Owen has a chance to look at the quote, he suggests 1) get the Norton for a 90-day free trial, currently better than MacAfee, 2) don't get the install package for $160, since he can do it cheaper, though he insists I can do most of it myself, but I demur. Arnold also says it's very easy. Sure. 3) get the DVD+R package, a good price. 4) GET the built-in modem, which I'd refused: he's rethought the external being better: new ones don't crash nearly so often. I call back and leave word for Jarod, but he doesn't call back the rest of the afternoon.
FRIDAY, 10/17/03: Call Jarod again about 10AM, he answers, says 1) 10-day delivery, 2) will ship on 10/23, order # 504 774 598, with the DVD last numbers being 630 and the Pinnacle last numbers being 631. It's a total of $1739.17 with tax; I didn't think it worthwhile to try to avoid NYS tax as Arnold suggested. I'd left word asking Owen if my OLD c-drive would fit into the new one as my PREVIOUS one did, but Owen doesn't call back and Jarod says my system has only one IDE slot, so I'd have to go up in price if I wanted to install my old disk. Since I never really USED the old disk in the PREVIOUS computer, I drop it. Proofread through the evening with Spartacus's monitor.
SATURDAY, 10/18/03: Numb from ordering, I play FreeCell and go to MAN and read Times and get to bed without doing anything about computers.
SUNDAY, 10/19/03: I proofread 2:35, see "Crazy for You," call Paul to arrange to meet here at 10AM tomorrow, watch more of "Taken," and don't think much.
MONDAY, 10/20/03: Paul and Dick and Sol here after they park downstairs in garage after finding NO place on street, and Paul and I decide I'll come down to DC on 10/31, leave on auto-train with him 11/7, and go from there. They and I drive around Park Slope and lunch at India House. I'm back to update opera list, play FreeCell, and finish last 4 hours of "Taken," rather numb.
TUESDAY, 10/21/03: Find my ATM card doesn't work, get flu shot, give blood for testosterone & C-reactive protein tests, finish opera list, get Scott's.
WEDNESDAY, 10/22/03: "Two Noble Kinsmen" and lunch at Jane, wasted day.
THURSDAY, 10/23/03: At least do 3:40 proofreading, to gym at 3:30 and told there are two boxes of computer waiting for me! Pick it up 5:15, call Owen, call Arnold 5:45-5:50 after unpacking some parts, unpack ALL to 6PM, can't find "EULA" read by 6:12, set-up screen on monitor at 6:17, and there's EULA on screen at 6:19. Finish "setup" at 6:28, start FreeCell at 6:30, Spider 6:30 to 6:55, proofread with NEW monitor and hard-to-read WordPerfect 11 to9:14, then Spider to 1:50AM---ANOTHER addiction, though I can get most all the one-suit games, but the two-suit and four-suit look quite impossible.
FRIDAY, 10/24/03: 10AM create a Wizard disk, taking it to old computer and saying START, RUN, A:\FASTWiz, OK, to collect settings, and get two disks when I put start on my Cindex disk. On at 10:25 and Norton Anti-Virus starts up (have not yet registered computer and Norton) and takes 18 minutes, 56 seconds to go through 56,364 files, which take 5.7 GIG of my 37.2 GIG hard disk! Arnold tells me to check "RealONE" for unknown BILL. Talk to John, back from China, and previously Avi and Laird about my arrival with Paul in Nov.
SATURDAY, 10/25/03: 7:52AM: Put on WP, but NOTHING WORKS on old computer, just an "OK blue screen. No retrieve OR typing possible!! RESET, and screen says "No keyboard!" AH, I'd detached the plug to try to find how to connect my AlphaSmart connection and found it too complicated and forgot to put it back! STILL problems. See "Omnium Gatherum" and dine again at Jane and come home with Times which I'm too tired to finish puzzles, HARD, and bed at 9PM!
SUNDAY, 10/26/03: Odd dreams recorded on the AlphaSmart, and I make a 14-item list of New Computer Tasks after finishing the Times puzzles and having breakfast and trying to absorb the time-change, and it's 67° at 2:40PM, I'm uncomfortably warm, won every single one-suit Spider I played and kept AT all three two-suit Spiders until I WON THOSE TOO. Catch up with this at 2:40 and MUST change rest of clocks, finish the Times, and MAYBE get to some of the computer tasks: 1) connect speakers, 2) set up modem-telephone line, 3) set up printer, 4) install Pinnacle, 5) play old CDs, 6) burn a CD, 7) burn a DVD, 8) install WORD, 9) wire for AlphaSmart, 10) fully test Cindex (doesn't seem to be QUITE what it was on the old, but I have to find how to word with WordPerfect 11 first!), 11) archive my old diskettes, 12) free all diskettes for indexes, 13) register computer and Norton, 14) check for Arnie's "Real One" which I phoned him about but he wasn't home. Also have my Before Trip list in front of me: 1) get Proscar refill, 2) haircut, 3) pay rent, 4) plants and mailbox key to Bob L., 5) visa-pay to ??, 6) return catalogs to library, 7) change dermatologist appointment. Clearly NOTHING is a priority, and thank God I don't have an INDEX to worry about getting the COMPUTER for.
MONDAY, 10/27/03: Decide I don't HAVE to do ANYTHING with new computer: I HAVE it in case anything happens with OLD computer, but I can incorporate it into my life, and incorporate my life into IT, AT MY LEISURE, primarily AFTER I get back from Florida, and LOTS of Spider and TV finished off yesterday.
12/8/03: 10:15AM: Juno: get new access numbers, but won't CONNECT. Reset, try again 10:25AM, and it connects. Did MEMO say I MUST restart to connect? NO, but I realize I HAD to.
12/9/03: 4:25PM: Try Schwab web-site again. 1) ug ug ug, FREEZES on "contacting investing.schwab.com." RESET. 7-8 "errors." 2) get PHONE number wrong, but eventually get what I want from it after about 1.5 hours!
12/12/03: Juno won't transfer; "timed out." RESET; try again, and it GOES.
12/20/03: Spider: 1-5PM, get to SEVEN consecutive wins, upping it from FOUR!
12/25/03: 10PM: Juno: hung up on "Audience Extras waiting to reply." and ctl-alt-del DIDN'T unfreeze mouse, so RESET does it.
12/26/03: 9AM: Shut OFF APC, red light ON, had begun BEEPING again, restore for Owen! And when I turn it on INSTANTLY afterward, the red light stays OFF!
12/30/03: 10PM: Up to TEN Spider consecutive wins.
1/7/04: Turn on old PC---APC beep-beep-beeps. Turn it OFF. Then OK.
1/8/04: 10:20AM: Turn APC on, "memory test failure." To setup "save to CMOS," and try AGAIN and it GOES with a "setup" put to "normal."
1/31/04: Juno tosses ads at me when I try to get DANCILIA---exit and try again and Juno WON'T START. RESET and try again and it goes.
3/26/04: 12:50PM: Inadvertently hitting alt-F2 causes Cindex to freeze---hitting it AGAIN cures it (something about reverse-color coding?)
3/31/04: Printing last of KENPAC and only top half of lines print, new ribbon doesn't help, finally cleaning clotted ink from bottom of HEAD clears it up.
4/11/04: On Juno 1 hr for Zagat and then it goes OFF. Then again after a half hour down to (???) section. And then connected and disconnected instantly! And stall at "loading ad banner." Then "Illegal operation" in Netscape and thrown off at very end! Also Twice and THIRD time, so I do it at Arnold's!
4/23/04: Turned OFF old computer, but tried 5-8 times and it won't go ON, but it DID go on at 9AM the NEXT day.
6/6/04: 1PM: Try Juno 5-6 times, always disconnects. Try AGAIN, and Juno icon won't go. Restart computer, Juno starts OK and goes THROUGH Audience Extras OK.
4/8/05: 10:15AM: Bring up WP51 and do "Alt-Ent" and it DOESN'T enlarge, and gets to "multiple versions." RESET and still not work, nor CX and WP11! Then decide it's a KEYBOARD problem, then MOUSE freezes, but I check SWITCH and KEYBOARD connection was out! RESTART and it's OK. Call Owen 11:15: "It's OK."
4/11/05: 9:40AM: Juno: Send mail and computer RESETS.
Note that this page is TWO YEARS AND ONE DAY after previous page-number. [This makes no sense when page-numbers gone, but statement remains.]
6/15/05: FINALIZED DISK DVD: Ch 13 PLAYS (XP), sci-fi plays (SP), FX at LP NOT play. FREEZES triple screen, end of SP. Cursor UP produces, no time-line to follow. [I have NO idea what this means on 10/28/05!]
9/19/05: 10AM: SHOW to C:\, C6 to C:\ (though I STILL have CX connected to OLDDRI~1 and can't figure how to change it). LOST OLDDRI~1 in trying to move it, copy from DISK, then FIND that I'd dropped it INTO C6! To ERASE CD-RW, put in E-drive.
9/28/05: 9:30AM: Try "on" for OLD computer 6-7 times, NOT WORK. Phone Dr. Data. 9:45AM it WORKS. Leave it ON to print out Croton-trip reply.
9/30/05: 5:50PM: HRWT3DS was NOT finished on FULL disk A, and it DIDN'T SAY until I WROTE it out and FOUND it stopped on page 18!
10/6/05: 4PM: Go to put ON old PC, but it WAS on, so I shut it OFF!! Tried 8-9 times before 5:15, no luck. Turns on FIRST try at 11PM.
10/11/05: Juno e-mail: Sent "Help": won't delete deleted files. 10/12: Get "Go to support." 9AM click, get "Loading Juno Guide." and timer goes to 3:28 and still "Wait state" and nothing on screen. BOTTOM says DONE at 4:13 and still "Loading Juno Guide" above. 9:10AM send NO file to Tristan. Restored file dated 10/12/05.
10/21/05: 9:40AM: LONG time at 100% transferred (after Denise said she COULDN'T send a PDF file to my e-mail address) after I send big index, but then it goes, thank goodness.
10/28/05: 8:21AM: Go to page-top in WP51 after typing dream, and it's FROZEN. Ctl-Alt-Del doesn't work 2x, then 4-6x, so I hit RESET! When it comes back on, "other copies" won't accept "no." It won't "Alt-Ent" enlarge at 8:27. Hit reset AGAIN. Can get to Word with MOUSE, but won't accept keyboard---AH, keyboard PLUG is out of connector! Reset (and I'd gotten FLASH of text before it loads, probably saying keyboard not connected) and it's OK! AGAIN!
3/6/06: 8:25PM: Consolidating "MY" and try TWICE to "retrieve" Cen-2028 and it FREEZES. Ctl-Alt-Del gets me out. "Look" has a CIRCLE, unending. Do I have it anywhere ELSE? Yes, on JV\LF31 and AR\LTC, which is LF31, Trav D, & China.
9/9/06: 7:48AM: Changing headers on NOTEREPL to "NOTEBOOK" when I guess I do something wrong and WP FREEZES. Cancel through "Task Manager," delete saved file, lose 6-7 lines, redo.
9/16/06: Tried ENDLESSLY to "burn CD." Restart with GREAT difficulty and it works! Save WP51 and try "burn CD" AGAIN and it won't work! Turn off/turn on/ burn RTF won't work AGAIN. Try LOG OFF and THAT restores it!
2/7/07: 1:20PM: Windows went into "safe mode," made background WHITE, ENLARGED Juno screen, then couldn't connect! Restarted computer, and it went OK! WHY do these things HAPPEN??
2/25/07: 12:38PM: EVERYTHING went wrong: 1) tried to order stamps, but it wouldn't display any of the pages I needed to order. 2) tried to download Goggle Earth, and sat as it went through an hour of downloading only to have the CLOCK stop at 59:55, and then the loading-icon endlessly repeated that it had 96% of the file downloaded with only 2:17 to go, and it never MOVED from there. 3) tried to delete Favorites so my new entries would fit onto one screen, and THAT wouldn't work, finally giving me a "disaster error" message that I shut off the computer for. DAMN!
7/9/07: 1:15PM: I'm on Juno, writing a message to Tris, and PC SHUTS OFF---as I write this note, it comes BACK ON! Then shuts off again!! Too HOT? Put on AC. As I REACH for reset button, it comes ON again! SAFE mode has white/GRAY clouds as background! Go to "send mail" and it WAITS on "preparing to connect," then "retry" and not WORK. And "close" only gets hollow click, and hit reset and machine's OFF. Push PLUG in upper back and it goes ON at 1:30!
12/10/07: 7:45AM: Something LOADED, and get mail error, and two returns don't work. Call 1-800-JUNO889. 7:40 restart computer: same. 7:49 restart again: same. Phone at 7:53: $1.25/minute! Check HELP, turn computer on/off, turn modem on/off, "May be Juno problem." 7:59 it dialed and connected. 8:17 still "transferring mail" at 100%.
12/18/07: Again "updating ESCD...success." Didn't work. Restarted with modem OFF and it WORKED.
12/24/07: 6PM: Try to send 2 TR files to Tris 4-5 times: modem won't connect. Restart computer with modem ON and OFF and get NO more ESCD. Finally try "go to web" and modem WORKS, starts transferring mail VERY slowly, and STOPS at 8% after five minutes. CLT-ALT-DEL does NOT say "not responding." Cancel, then restart AGAIN. AGAIN "Juno processing" and hourglass 6:47-6:48. To 6% at 7:02. Still frozen. TIME frozen at 7:03 at 7:08! Then flips to 7:04. Hit CTL-ALT-DEL 2x, restarts at 7:11/ To 13% at 7:15.
12/30/07: 12:30PM: Start looking at DSL. 1PM: Must be on DELL. Needs Windows 95 or above. 1:02PM: Go to Juno. 1:03: "Get mail" fails. 1:05: Go to web. 10 messages at 1:07. 1:20 System FREEZES in mid-response to accessory genie. Close down---DAMN! 1:22: put in CD: "1 hour." 1:28: Start looking for PHONE jack! 1:45: Did BOTH kitchen AND fax. BLACK phone doesn't work. 1:55: call Spartacus for half an hour. 2:07: "Setup cannot upgrade this computer to Windows XP. The upgrade option is not available." 2:10: Type Product Number: BPRBM-MDJHB-9RTCD-K73MB-9T8DB. 2:13: "Product ID is invalid. Please try again." 2:17: lunch to 2:55. 4:40: Call for address book. HOME.VERIZON.NET for e-mail and user name and password. Hold right button and right click. 5:03: FINISH printing Juno address book, COPY, right click in THAT area: PASTE.
1/2/08: Send 5 JPEGS (1-5) 7:05-8:15, and play SPIDER. 20482kb exceeded limit of 20480kb!
1/9/08: Dell Windows XP Service pack 2 setup wizard. "Inspecting your current configuration." 12:26: NO MOVEMENT. 12:29 MOVES, 1:30: STILL "performing cleanup."
1/13/08: On Juno 9:30, long pause, transferring mail to 9% quickly at 9:33. Then "green screens" keep flashing, "red flag" keeps waving. But STAYS at 9% to 9:41. Shut new modem OFF at 9:42. Lights STILL flash, flag STILL waves at 9:44. ADS change, CURSOR blinks, COMPUTER ticks, but computer "boinks" at 9:46! RD and SD blinks red on modem 9:48. RD & SD are green-lit. Still going at 9:50. Computer ticks, but still 9% at 9:51. 9:54: blinks, ticks, ad is blank. Still "OK" at 9:58. Modem OFF at 10:09. "Cancel" doesn't click. CTL-ALT-DEL, RESET to be sure. 13% at 10:29. Still blinks, still frozen. Cancel 10:34. DHHELP OK.
2/6/08: 8:34PM: Try to get JUNO mail first time. Transferring mail 1% to 8:38 to 8:43. Cancel doesn't work.
2/8/08: 3:47: Finally Juno begins to transfer mail. Boinks at 4:13 at 52%. Restart at 4:15 and have two messages. 4:21 transfers 100% but both screens green and frozen at 4:32.
3/1/08: 12:05: "Get mail" on Juno. It FREEZES on "connected to Juno's central computers" and compute-ticks like MAD, red flag waving, green screens blinking, until they don't. 12:12 RESTART at 12:19. 12:45 green flashes but STILL only 16%.
3/15/08: Started 10:25AM. 10:40: Reboot after 4% transmitted, then to 9% at 10:46. 10:59: No messages.
5/19/08: In CINDEX: IPH doesn't have last input! WHY? Add backup and do sq/com and it goes CRAZY with HUGE numbers. Reset machine. To cx again. Get IPH and it says file DAMAGED, want to SORT? I do, get like 900 records and do sq/com and it REDUCES to 499, CORRECT. After half-hour of AGONY!
7/2/08: 10:47AM: Retrieve NOTEBKDD.DOC into WP51 and it FREEZES. NOTHING moves cursor. CTL-ALT-DEL does, finally, bring up Task Manager with WP.EXE. Rename WP7208, hit exit, and get REGULAR WP.
8/2/08: 1:25PM: Update HIGE amount, try to exit, and get "Put WordPerfect 2 disk back in drive and press any key." WHAT the hell? Hit ESC. Work IS there!
8/8/08: 7:40AM: Shift-F10 keeps giving MACRO, not Retrieve. MAYBE caused by NEO connection. Disconnect NEO and it's OK.
1/4/09: INSTALL PROJECTOR 11:45AM: Try bedroom and DELL connection. Register.
11:57: Start to try to look at User's Guide.
11:59: Dell CAN'T READ Users Guide pdf.
12:01: Go to D and it loads Adobe Reader: can I now read Tris's BILL?
12:04: Hit User's Guide and "progress" flicks on and VANISHES.
12:05: Click on Adobe Reader AGAIN and it loads AGAIN.
12:07: AGAIN stalls on "gathering required information" and goes to INSTALL.
12:11: Acrobat Reader: "Error opening---file not begins with '%pdf'.
12:13: KEEPS doing Adobe Reader 8.1.2 setup.
12:15: In disgust I go back to the LAPTOP!
12:19: Open laptop and Guide is ON the screen!
PC-free: "USB or SD from W6 series ONLY: p.34.
p.18-22: TABLES of projector distances.
12:50: Projector DISPLAYS computer screen!!
12:57: "tele" reduces image: p.45.
12:58: E-zone and "move" arrows 2-4-6-8: p.46.
1:01: Slideshow W6 ONLY! p.55.
p.61: Image adjust
1:04: So I MUST put Olympus Master on LAPTOP!
p.81: lamp usage: Menu: Info: Lamp hours.
1:10: p.113-116: Index.
1:20: Go to desktop to burn Olympus Master.
1:21: Burn CDs icon doesn't WORK.
1:34: 24 minutes to format disk!! Turn screen OFF!! Go to Steve's.
8:05: Copy Olympus Master 2 to DVD to 8:19: CAN'T copy.
8:31: Get Olympus Master 2 DISK from pile on shelf.
8:36: Start install.
8:45: Restart computer. Password NOT bob0ee. Keep HITTING. Read FLASHDRIVE?!
Find card for Dell laptop: password is bobzee!
8:51: Retrieve thumbnails from Egypt.
8:54: Start to transfer 1370 images: 2 gigabytes ["burps" from 750-800].
9:13: Start slideshow.
10:40: STOPS at 1443?? Have to restart Olympus all over again; takes awhile.
10:55: Resumes slideshow. To 1562 at 11:05. If screen BLACKS, rub pad.
11:15: Finish at 1700, quite a relief!!
1/5/09: WINWORD. "wwintl32.dll not found." Find it in ProgramFiles\Microsoft Office\Office\. Make CD-RW with both files on by 6:15PM. Try later.
1/16/09: 9PM: Didn't realize that the laptop mouse has a SHUT-OFF, but not "the button on the bottom," but a SWITCH. FRUSTRATION for an hour, thinking I might have to take it back to RadioShack to fix it; pleased that I solved it.
1/25/09: 8:15PM: Go to "uncircumcised penises" spot on Internet through Google and seem to pick up a virus. "Internet Antivirus Pro" at 8:48PM directs me to a payment server, but it's waiting for migs.mastercard.com.au! for a long time with only one green blip in the progress screen. I try ctl-alt-del a number of times, even pressing the power button on the tower case, but nothing shuts off the frozen screen except pulling the plug on the computer itself, at which point it reloads and comes up with the Verizon Security Suite, and then the computer makes some grinding sounds and again "Internet Antivirus Pro" counts out 26 infected files, many with names that seem to be my very ordinary files. Keep putting in my address and visa-card number, but it never seems to really ACCEPT it, so again at 9:15PM I'm unplugging and plugging back in and get 18 infected files. Get sent to an official area called MPSJOIN, but worried about the www."many names" that ends in pandora/softcore/buy_soft, which seems terribly CONDEMNING: I opened Pandora's box by going to a soft-core website. Finally phone Dell about 9:25PM, saying I might have to wait ten or more minutes, and get Rinaldo in Manila, who's not allowed to go to Pagsanjan Falls as I was, who says that the virus-maker now has my credit card number, so I'd better change it. I say I don't have a cell phone, but then realize that my OWN phone isn't in use when I'm on the Internet now! He takes control of my cursor and finally at 11PM starts an Anti-Malware scan of ALL my C-drive files, saying it might take 25-35 minutes, and I make a Spam (HA!) sandwich while it goes through all the repetitive files until 11:45. That clears the C-drive, so he tells me to connect the G-500Gb drive at midnight, and that goes to 1:15AM! In the meantime I DO use the cell phone to call Visa, who tells me to change the card number even though I have to phone everyone to tell them the new number. Dell has to charge me $139.80, with tax added to the $129 charge, interestingly VERY close to the $129+ charge for three-year's protection from "Internet Antivirus Pro," with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Rinaldo tells me to contact his voicemail if anything else goes wrong in the next three days: 1-800-624-9896, ext. 6125324. Bed depressed at 1:30AM.
TUESDAY, 2/17/09: 10:15AM: Keep getting repeat loadings of e-mails from 2/6-10, and nothing NEW from Piri. Try a few fixes with Verizon, trying the Verizon Help and Support icon, but finally it says that something's not working right and I should phone 1-800-567-6789, with a Quick Code of 1065-0032-3371-1369. Jean takes over the cursor and goes through a number of Verizon menus, checking something like Local Network instead of AT&T something, somewhere. I recall her saying she erased all my cookies, whatever that meant, which comes into play two days later.
THURSDAY, 2/19/09: Try to check My Account with OAT and get told that my system doesn't accept cookies, so I have to change my system. In Verizon I
try "Cookies in Internet Explorer 7" and it says to go to Tools, then Internet Options, then Security, then Custom Level, and then Cookies, OK, OK. I get to Custom Level and it says NOTHING about cookies. I try a few times, and then just go back and try My Account again, and this time it OPENS OK. So whatever I did, it either worked, or---something else. HOW FRUSTRATING THIS ALL IS!!
FRIDAY, 5/1/09: 5:55AM: Start deleting OLDDRIVE ("complete" on EDGE) from C:\. BUT if RECYCLE bin TAKES C:\storage, it'll FILL. C:\OLDDRIVE\C6 has 4.36 GB. C:\ has about 1 HB each. 6:10AM: Start deleting" says "Too big for recycle---delete? YES! C:\ now has 5.48 GB free.
SUNDAY, 5/3/09: Got my last e-mail on 5/1. Before that, starting way back around 4/15, I'd started getting porn spam with different Google addresses, and when I get the fifth one I decide I've had enough and try to forward it to Verizon to say "Stop this." But it doesn't accept the e-mail because it says it's SPAM! From then on, when I try anything with e-mail, it ends with "Four unsent messages," but it doesn't accept them because they're spam, and when I try to hit the red-X to leave the program, it says Internet Explorer isn't responding and I have to Quit Now to get out. Then when I try again, the system tells me I'd closed down improperly, and Click Here to get the last e-mail page, which is the Prime-Timers' e-mail from 5/1. When I try to get ANY of my Favorites, it just spins on "Connecting" without connecting. Decide I can't put up with this any longer: there's probably something wrong with my computer, not with Verizon. Call them at 10:55AM and get a recorded message saying they're having problems in "New York" which their engineers are working on, but to stay on the line if I still want help. A guy answers fairly quickly, seemingly American and intelligent, and says, "There's a problem in Manhattan, but none in Brooklyn." He directs me to put in various addresses to try to "put my computer back to the way it was on 5/1," but he finally ends up looking at my Control Panel with 78 processes going, says that's too many, but he has no authority to tell me how to go beyond this: it would take an expert who would have to charge me. At 11:20AM he recommends that I check for viruses and spyware with my security packages, or go through "Add and Remove Programs" at the Control Panel, which I'm reluctant to do, or phone Dell because I'm having a WINDOWS problem. Thank him, hang up, and start a complete Malware scan at 11:25. Talk to Marj 11:25-12:05PM to bitch about my problem, with which she sympathizes. Phone a few more people while that's going, then it finishes at 12:27, having scanned 147,676 items, ALL OK. Try Favorites again, but they still don't work, so I phone Dell at 12:34, having checked their phone number on a card which says I last spoke to them, for $139.80, on 1/25/09. He says my warranty expired 10/18/08, can't tell me how much a renewal would cost, and anyway a virus problem isn't included in the warranty. "So why should I get a warranty?" I inquire petulantly. He sends me through many addresses, but being from India he's difficult to understand, I having first put in "Verizon/6" when he directed me to put in "Verizon/fix." He again attempts to restore me to the condition of 5/1, when there was some kind of system check, and I identify the five, I think, porn messages that I want removed, and he blocks any more spam from those sites, removes the messages, and gives me reference number 1043065383, and phone number 800-456-3355, ext 7238587, if I have any more problems like this. We're done at 1:45PM; I feel mentally wrung out, but the system is working.
TUESDAY, 6/23/09: TWO OLD NOTES FOUND: 12/9/08: WORD97 "searches" for file. "Error message sent." Get NEW Word2007, GOT. Reboot computer and WORD97 WORKS! 12/12/08: Receiving mail: "POP3 hasn't worked." Try AGAIN, get it again. REBOOT, and get FOURTEEN new messages. It actually happened a few times SINCE then, and at one point earlier this month I deleted DOZENS of SENT messages with lots of website files, and DOZENS of DELETED messages going way back, and didn't get the POP3 but got AGAIN about a dozen messages.
MONDAY, 6/29/09: Get MS Office Home and install on laptop 3:35-3:49, then reboot 3:50-3:52, configuring 3:57-3:58. Review has Track Changes.
WEDNESDAY, 7/1/09: Install on DESKTOP 9:35-9:36; must have MS Windows XP servicepack 2 (SP2). 2003 HAS Windows 5.1 [Build 2600.xpsp(020828-1920:SP1)].
SUNDAY, 8/16/09: A whole GRAY screen with "something's gone wrong; check newly added programs; if this doesn't go away, you need help." It went away.
TUESDAY, 8/18/09: Exit WP51 and get old "Put WP51 disk in and hit any key." It doesn't stop virus check, I hit ESC and it goes away, and file BRITWALES is OK, WHEW!
MONDAY, 1/11/10: 1:11PM: WP51\MC/NJ to 12/28---forward slash has no effect?
MONDAY, 3/29/10: FINALLY unhook IBM PC from everything and take downstairs!
SUNDAY, 4/11/10: 11:30AM: WP51 won't start. Keeps asking "others running?" But WON'T take Yes or No. Keep saying "end now" and try again and get same. RESTART computer twice and try to ERASE problem. Try OLDDRIVE wp.exe, which gets LARGE version, but yes/no STILL won't work. CTL-ATL-DEL does nothing, so I press OFF button. WP11 and WORD don't work. Finally find that the keyboard became unplugged, and it WORKS at 12:35PM.
SUNDAY, 5/2/10: 1:45PM: FAVORITES don't work---e-mail not coming in. Verizon "off"?
SUNDAY, 7/18/10: 8:25PM: Watching Netflix and it FREEZES, at 17% buffering. Hit CTL-ALT-DEL and Windows restarts. At 8:32 Windows Internet Explorer (not responding. 8:33 it comes ON.
MONDAY, 8/2/10: "Virus found---scan?" "Yes." Started 7:30PM, ended 8:59; through 122510 files in 1 hr 29 min, 18 sec, and found 1 virus.
TUESDAY, 8/24/10: 10:20PM: Hit WP51 TWICE, get TWO up, close ONE, open MEDICAL, and closing, get "Put Wordperfect disk 2 in and hit any key." It won't CLOSE; hit ESC and screen BLACKS and I get TASK Manager table. I close it and check that MEDICAL is OK! WHEW!
SUNDAY, 9/5/10: 11AM: Look at website and hit "2" "print page" with printer OFF and screen FREEZES. Have to turn printer ON and print page---when I find I still need to left-justify it! And screen unfreezes.
WEDNESDAY, 9/29/10: 8:45AM: Outlook Express "not ended properly." Window for sending still in error from last night. Internet Explorer doesn't work. Restarted then, to no good. Restart AGAIN at 8:49. At 8:52 get Internet Explorer (not responding), and then it finally DID.
MONDAY, 12/27/10: 2AM: Think to try Spartacus's suggestion to reboot computer to see if it corrects HH password not being accepted. Hit Start, then Turn Off Computer, then Restart. Screen saying "Windows XP is shutting down" comes on and STAYS on for more than five minutes. Impatient, I hit CTL-ALT-DEL twice, but nothing happens. So I pull the plug. Everything shuts off. I put the plug back in, press the on-button on the front of the Dell tower---and nothing happens. HUH?! Fuss with the octopusses of wire below the air conditioner, which has ice on top of it from the freezing effect of the snow and wind blowing against my windows all Sunday and into Monday. Wires seem to be connected, but could the cold have affected something? Or maybe "low memory" got SO low that the "accounting" of "Windows XP shutting down" EXHAUSTED storage and it can't start? Or my monitor is too cold? But I'd played Spider most of the very cold, blowing Sunday, and had no trouble with the wires or the monitor, though I remember slight "pauses" in the cards being dealt out in Spider, and tiny "blue-dimming" at the upper margin that I took, again, as a sign of low available storage. If I have to call Dell, what will I tell them? Get to bed at 2:47AM, understandably depressed and worried. Up at 10:14AM, and about 1PM determine that I must get the wires out of the way. To do that, I have to move the Dell tower from its place to my left on the printer stand to my desk on the right so I can access the wires in the back of the tower. Put the Edge box on top of the tower after unplugging it, and retrieve a couple of tangled "no end" wires, and can finally move it the three feet to my desk. Decide I have to make a map of the back of the Dell, so I draw it on a sheet of printer paper: starting with the large power plug at the top; then the (nicely) color-coded keyboard and mouse plugs below; a "big white plug" that turned out to be the printer connection from the "printer octopus;" a "big black" that turns out to lead to VGA, the monitor; then two USB wires to the Canon scanner and the Edge box; below that two more USB wires, white to Neo and black to Canon TDK (whatever THAT is!); and a small yellow box to the Verizon stuff on the floor, ending with the big red Pinnacle (never used) wire at the bottom. And the white wire under the box comes from the wire to the speakers. Start labeling EVERY wire that I take out and that I disconnect. Starting with the "printer octopus," I remove the "big white plug" from the Dell-back and replace it with the black plug from the NEC printer itself. AND TURN IT ON AND IT WORKS! Label the other loose ends from the PC and throw the (now dead) "printer octopus" to the side to be put later into the file drawer: I've since learned not to throw away ANYTHING! Then move to the VGA, the biggest plug in the "other octopus," and put the plug from the Dell monitor into the Dell-back. Do the same with the keyboard and the mouse, and then turn on the computer, AND AT 3PM THE MONITOR SHOWS THE COMPUTER NOW WORKING!! So it WAS some problem with the tangle of wires on the floor! Then decide I don't need the faxmodem, so, again labeling all the wires that I remove, I put THAT into the "file away" stack. But just about then the phone rings, and I pick up the fax phone---and it's DEAD! Race to pick up the other phone, but whoever serendipitously called AT THE PRECISE RIGHT MOMENT has hung up---but then I RECONNECT the two white telephone wires to the back of the fax modem---without even having to plug it in!---and the phone works again! How wonderful that the call came when I had JUST disabled it, so I knew how to "able" it quickly. Do other things in relief, and later in the evening, at 10:15PM, I decide to look into the "low storage available" problem, and check to see that I have only 102 mb available of 37 gb! Less than a third of a percent! I get a pop-up that suggests I clean the disk, so I try that, which takes a long time, and increases the free space to a disappointingly low 178 mb. So to 10:40PM I start removing programs: some I can simply hit the program in the "all programs" list with the right mouse-button, hit the "delete," and it deletes it. Others direct me to the Control Panel for the Add and Delete Programs Uninstaller. Do a few of those, seeing that they're mainly eGames. That gives me a free total of 591 mb. Remove the Eyewitness Atlas (which the chart says I used last in 2007, which may have been when it was INSTALLED, and probably not by me!), but that only increases my total free to 625 mb. Take more out and get to 689 mb. Find the Pipeline index files in some document folder and remove those, emptying the Recycle Bin so I can check my free space---and TOTALLY REMOVING THEM. That gets me down to 787 mb. Take out more files, random WordPerfect files in the WP file itself, and finally end up with 1.13 gb free at 11:30PM, feeling triumphant! Then want to try my HH password again, hit Internet Explorer---and nothing happens! I try it again and again, and it doesn't work. What have I thrown out that's disabled it?? I was careful not to throw out ANYTHING that started with Verizon or HP or Olympus or other "known-to-keep" names. Tried hitting the other Verizon icons on my desktop. Most I didn't understand. Finally noticed the Verizon In-Home Agent, and tried to see what help that could give. When I hit it, I first got a blank screen, so I clicked in it and it started LOADING something! Hope rose! It went on, doing whatever it was doing, and after a few moments the Verizon homepage dimly appeared behind what the In-Home Agent was doing! AND IT WORKED! ANOTHER INCREDIBLE TRIUMPH! Oh, forgot to record that I counted SIXTEEN WIRES connected to the back of the Dell box when I talked to Marj before undertaking the rewiring, much to her praise of my doing "things a little bit at a time," which I later confronted her with, and "of course," she said, she applied the same philosophy to herself---she just hasn't chosen to DO anything about it yet.
TUESDAY, 12/28/10: 9:38AM: AGAIN I'm left with an "e-mail box remnant" when I tried to exit the e-mail Outlook Express when it appeared to freeze when "receiving mail." So I rebooted, and it said "No new messages," which I don't believe, but DID get messages later. Also sorted out the COMPCHRO cards from the stack above my desk by 3:40PM, and worked on updating COMPCHRO till 5PM, when I got hungry for lunch. Then had dinner, talked with Charles, and indulged in Spider from 6:25-9:35, getting a new low. Back to finish COMPCHRO updating until 10:15PM, probably going on MUCH too long, but it IS ALL PART OF MY COMPUTER CHRONICLE. At least I'm glad to be finished FOR NOW.
WEDNESDAY, 1/12/11: 5:40AM: Try Outlook Express and get "frozen e-mail box." Try TWICE to restart, and try Outlook Express twice, and it doesn't go. Third time, no go, try VX in-home agent. Message to "log off," so I do it, and hit "myname with 3 messages" and it reloads desktop. Hit Outlook Express AGAIN, and it "sends error report" on "Kodak Easyshare" (for whatever reason) and "error reporting" won't CLOSE! 5:50AM: Hit "log off" AGAIN, and "end program," and get "sys fader" won't respond! Try "Cancel" to check status of program and THAT freezes, and restart SECOND time! 5:53: Try vx in-home agent. 5:56: "Please wait for checking for update." 5:58 "Update to new version" and "error" and "error downloading." 5:59: Try "in-home agent" AGAIN. 6:05: CONNECTS to Internet with Outlook Express. 6:06: "Live chat no available now" 3 messages. 6:08: "Checking availability" for MY phone number. 6:10: "Hi-Speed SALES pitches." 6:15: Log into Verizon. 6:24: Start copying MC onto EDGE as BACKUP. 6:26AM: Finished. WHEW!!THURSDAY, 1/13/11: 11PM: Try Outlook Express and it SITS for 15 minutes! Hit Internet Explorer and it goes, and it's on WITHOUT entering my code! And my exiting it leaves "that block." And at 1:30AM it REMAINS, but other things just go OVER it.
FRIDAY, 1/14/11: 1:20PM: Monitor green light BLINKS; try restarting computer, making sure the plug is in, no good. NO buttons "exit" or "menu" work. Phone Dell at 1:38; give express service code at 1:40. "Connect to service" at 1:48. I kept thinking that my $75 discount on my large flashdrive came early last year when I renewed the warranty on my Dell, but came to believe that THAT was a renewal of my camcorder warranty. Finally find that I "maxed out my 5-year warranty extension," which was renewed on 11/18/06 to 11/18/08, and check my files to find that I bought the entire Dell desktop system on 10/17/03, so the monitor lasted 7 years and 3 months. At 2:20PM I asks about new 15" monitor. "LCD" is $610, which I decide is too much for a questionable improvement: my monitor quality is EXCELLENT as it is. A refurbished unit, like my old flat-panel CRT, is $140 including tax, but it only has a 90-day warranty. At 2:33 I ask if an LCD monitor will WORK on my Dimension 2400 Dell. Then at 2:35 he comes back after a pause and says I can get the SAME MODEL, which they're not advertising, but they HAVE, for $189.98 with a 3-year warranty, which with tax and shipping will come to $204.86, which is later changed, since he thought at first that the shipping distance was very short, to $220.98, and will be shipped to arrive in 3-4 days (no mention being made about Martin Luther King Day on Monday). I note to myself that maybe my "e-mail box" was a sign of a dying monitor? My case number was assigned as 829-80-7272, and at 2:50 I was given a PO# 571130180 and then a Confirmation # 580375587. For a repeat call I should call 1-800-456-3355, extension 7238587, and his "personal" number is 1-866-962-4123, given at 3:02PM, saying it'll be shipped for arrival 1/17/11, with Case # 5803755817. EXHAUSTING!
WEDNESDAY, 2/9/11: 12:30AM: Try ENDLESSLY (with rebooting) and CAN'T GET Internet Explorer. C: has 158 mb free, then 580 mb free, and STILL no Internet Explorer, to 12:47AM! Some days later I removed Egypt/Petra slides and got over 2 gb storage, which I hope will hold me for a while!
MONDAY, 2/28/11: 2:30PM: Played Spider since 11:25AM and the MOUSE dies---plug partly out? Push plug IN and REBOOT and it's OK! Adobe Flash Player 10.1 installed? Install at 2:39PM.
TUESDAY, 3/1/11: 10:15AM: Mouse doesn't work? Found it strangely sluggish last night during Spider, and when I was looking at my e-mail this morning, it slid around, and finally got "stuck" at the top of the message I composing as a reply to Doug's e-mail from yesterday. I tried exiting, but the screen froze on some "end program" not responding, and at 10:20 I phoned Verizon Tech Support, though I realized that, since I couldn't use my mouse, I probably couldn't get them to look at my screen. At 10:25 got the message that "Wait time is less than 10 minutes," and they answer at 10:26, and I give them my modem model. They tell me that my Internet connection is OK, there must be something wrong with my computer. Oh. Recall that the last time I called Dell, I was told that my 6-year-old computer was now beyond any Dell support. The Windows logo keeps floating around my screen after REPEATED pushes on the "off" Dell button, so I unplug at 10:35. Start Windows and the mouse arrow doesn't MOVE. At 10:39 I make SURE the plug is in and reboot again, and this time it tells me that "C: volume is dirty," and at 10:42 CKDSK starts going quickly through 100% of the files being OK, but stalls at 3% of the INDEXES being checked. At 10:43 I reboot AGAIN and at 10:44 it AGAIN stalls at 3% of CKDSH stage 2. Spartacus happens to call, getting me a ticket for Thursday's "Circa," and says it's USUAL for things like this to pause for a long time. I say I think there's only a SMALL chance that it'll go beyond 3%, since it stopped for a long time there TWICE, but that I'll call him back after I have breakfast. Put on my oatmeal and check at 10:55 to find it's 7% complete. Back at 10:58 to find it's 90% complete, and it then zips through 100% of stage 3 of 3: Security Descriptors. Booting then continues to 11:01 and at 11:02 the mouse WORKS! At THAT precise moment, Marj phones!
MONDAY, 4/4/11: Used Verizon In-Home Agent 2:10-2:40AM to fix "that box" and delete messages.
THURSDAY, 4/14/11: 10:19AM: Start Verizon In-Home Agent for "reply box in Outlook Express off to side," and it's done at 10:40AM.
SATURDAY, 4/16/11: Use Verizon In-Home Agent, going to incomingverizon.net from 12:25-1:20PM, AGAIN moving the reply box to the left, but now I think I see that he puts the cursor on the top-blue frame to move the whole thing, not just at the left margin to pull it. He can't find John's e-mail, suggesting I wait another 24 hours in case it was delayed. I note that the Chat ID is 04161192638, seeing that 0416 is the date.
TUESDAY, 4/19/11: At 11:20AM I go to get e-mail and Outlook Express 6 FREEZES. I click on Verizon In-Home Agent for the fourth time this month, and it takes a long time to connect. Try Verizon with agent, and then Outlook Express still fails, and get live chat at 11:48. The test messages disappear until I notice that my anti-Spam box is increased by three, and it turns out that in deleting messages from Verizon I mistakenly made MYSELF Spam! He changes that, and at 12:32PM "Test" arrives in my input box. So crazed by the session that I talk to Marj about it to 1PM!
THURSDAY, 4/21/11: To Verizon In-Home Agent for the FIFTH time this month at 9:33AM, and told them to put spam into the anti-spam folder so that I can make SURE it's spam. Also got them to change the Verizon opening page so that I don't have to sign in, it just goes directly to e-mail. Off at 10:22AM.
FRIDAY, 4/22/11: 9:54AM: For the SIXTH time I spent over an hour with Verizon In-Home Agent. Went on at 8:37AM with 4 questions: 1) right-off-screen reply from outlook express AGAIN, 2) notification 1 NOTED, but how do I get RID of it?, 3) outlook express SLOW, 4) Adobe update never works. In response to the first, he used his cursor to move it, and at the end, when I tried MY cursor, it worked, so that's solved, at least for this session. He said that Notification 1 would disappear at the end of this session; I haven't checked it yet, but I hope it did. He typed "I won't see POP again," and I hope that's true. He DOWNLOADED a new Adobe, so I typed that I hoped that would solve my unworkable Adobe Update messages. Then he said the computer had to be rebooted, and it DID, and HE STAYED ON, which astounded me. Then, at the end, when I tried to send a reply that I got his four Verizon e-mails, I noted that "outlook express unable to send receipt" for a FUTURE session, saying that that was enough for today, Kapil, and signed off at about 9:50AM, again over an hour.
WEDNESDAY, 4/27/11: Log in to Verizon to "fix e-mail problem" at 11:04AM, with the "Outlook Express 6" square frozen. John's e-mail is lost somehow. I also want them to 2) oust Bing from Internet Explorer, and 3) find dates of previous chats 4/4-27. Black box is gone at 11:11. Talking to Kamal, with Chat ID 04271158468, and I recognize the first four digits as the date. He asks for my billing address, which turns out to be my e-mail address. He says I can call 1-800-837-4966 which is DSL Tech Support, but I say I refuse because there's always an impossible wait. Go To Assist at 11:22. Note that C:\Documents & ...\Bob Zolnerzak\Locals\... has om215 and om217, which he can't erase "to improve browsing speed," and I note CitrixLogs there. Get a connection to Outlook Express at 11:47 and reboot at 12:07. Then contact ENDS at 12:10! Install Adobe Flash Player 10.2 Installer and Installation Complete! I phone while trying to reconnect to a chat, and the phone guy says "I've never used Chat." Thanks. At 12:22: 1) Bing still there, 2) find previous chats, 3) Outlook Express DIDN'T file spam, and 4) put Verizon back WITHOUT having to sign in, as before, and 5) why is the print off the screen? At 12:31 Heather calls to check on Shelley and John, and I say I'll call her back. At 12:35 he says he'll call back in next 15 minutes, during which I call Heather back about Shelley and John. On PHONE at 1:12PM and then we're CUT OFF at 1:13! Start In-Home AGAIN at 1:45PM. Shweta with ID 04271165575 starts at 1:53PM. He can't get Bing out, and tries installing Mozilla as a substitute avenue to Verizon, but I go back to the icon at the top of my screen. He says that the offset in printing is a PRINTER problem, not his! Raja then says we talked twice on the 22nd, once on the 24th, and twice on the 27th, today. I jot down John's e-mail titles: "Absolutely Peaceful," "Hairy and Weird," and "Leaving Here." So "2 photos and a video" is missing. For the missing spam I have to call MacAffee support at 1-800-338-8754. Talked to Shweta FIVE times. Off at 3PM, print John to 3:25, and more to 4PM, then talk to Marj about all this to 4:30 and Charles to 4:50. Exhausting!
MONDAY, 9/19/11: Trying to get musical DVDs from Denny and Spartacus to play, I end up with Task Manager showing 126 processes to 95 processes, and my CPU usage vacillating wildly from 0-99%. I try terminating processes, always getting the message I might be causing problems, and sometimes getting a message that I CAN'T terminate a particular process, and then, three times, the computer SHUTS DOWN because I've done something wrong. Very frustrating between 2:50 and 9:45PM! At least determine, for Denny's disk, that I can highlight a particular file, and in FILE hit "Windows Media Player," and it WILL play.
TUESDAY, 9/20/11: 10:30AM: Start on computer at 7:37AM. First is a LONG e-mail "working online." Then "real-time scanning" keeps turning OFF, giving a message "security in danger" and I have to go to security and turn it ON. With the problems of last night, and the fact that my phones only ring VERY WEAKLY, I phone Verizon at 7:51AM. They start by saying "Channel One, Checks Two," (or something like that) will be out until 7:37AM tomorrow. At 7:55 the FIRST recording talks of a phone-line test, and that Verizon is OK. It talks of the four-step phone-verification process: 1) FIOS battery-unit power: SYSTEM light should be ON and BATTERY light should NOT be red, which means it needs replacing; 2) unplug ALL phones; 3) plug in first and test it; 4) plug in others and test them. Get a woman, report my problem, and at 8:02 she says she'll call me back so I can test the sound of the phone after she checks the line for 2-3 minutes. I find that I can't add my comment to Paul Rosenberg's "Heritage" blog. I get asked for a FireFox 6.0.2 update, and I wonder if I should DO it? At 8:17 I call back, and by 8:20 get to Brandy, who, at 8:26, will DEFINITELY call back (first woman left NO notes about my previous conversation). I try McAfee "threat map" and then even the Verizon Internet Security Suite is "not responding." I have 96 processes, and Outlook Express is not responding. Can't get to Verizon, either! At 8:31 Brandy calls back (with the low tinkle from the area of the closet) and she said the line test revealed a "marginal voltage," which she explains LATER (not when she says it) is an ERROR voltage that might be messing up my "real" signals. I should have signed up for a "wire maintenance plan" for $6.99/month, and even if I do NOW, I might have to wait a month before using it; OR I pay $91 for a technician's first 30-minute visit and then more for more time. All SHE can see is OK by Verizon. Maybe if I pay $39 I can get "instant" service. CPU usage should be between 0-15% most of the time. At 8:53AM she suggests a reboot the computer. At 9AM she tries screen sharing, but "Go to Assist" keeps cycling WITHOUT connecting. Restart once, and then at 9:23 try to reboot a THIRD time, and at 9:35 she can't do anything more, saying only that I can go to Premium Tech Support, which is $14.99/month, or a one-time 72-hour stint for $89.99. Thirty minutes of $39.99. Number for that is 866-785-8145, since I'm starving for breakfast. Inside wiring check number is 1-800-Verizon. Off at 9:45! TWO HOURS AND EIGHT MINUTES OF COMPUTER SHIT!!
FRIDAY, 9/23/11: Happen to ride in an elevator with Paul, and he says he'll stop in and check Verizon wiring. He never shows up. I put a call-note on desk.
FRIDAY, 9/30/11: 1:10PM: Call Paul at Maintenance mainly to see if "I'm still on his list." "Give him ten minutes." He knocks on my door in THREE minutes, thanking me for remembering to remind him, and goes into the closet to look at the wiring. He talks of a green light flashing, and JUST as he says that the phone RINGS, and it's Carolyn, who I tell I'll call back when Paul leaves. He says he thinks there are loose wires in VERIZON'S equipment, so I should call them again. 2:20PM: Told by 1-800-Verizon to call FIOS Standard Technical Support at 877-718-6716. At 2:30 helpful guy says he'll TEST and call me back. The BLACK PHONE RINGS. He says "There may not be a charge if they come to check and find it IS their wiring problem." He also tells me how I can plug phone jack DIRECTLY into a place in the FIOS box in my living room and get DIRECT phone contact without any other wires. He said he performed some kind of "wire clearance procedure," and it seemed to make the phones WORK! Also, since that time, there's been no problem with my COMPUTER, which this file is ostensibly ABOUT. Close this section on Wednesday, 10/5/11.
WEDNESDAY, 10/5/11: 7:35AM: Rebooting caused "windows is shutting down" to take a LONG time, to 7:37, and then "checking for updates for Adobe update" for some time. 7:38: "Update is not responding," then it DOES. Update to Adobe Reader 9.2.0 CPSID-50026, goes HALFWAY and "encountered a problem." 7:41: "Adobe Reader 9.0 Language Support failed to install." 7:42: "Update process is finished." HOW???
TUESDAY, 10/11/11: 11AM: "Home" takes AGES for ANY favorites to load, if they DO. "Connecting" circles. Green dots at bottom go slowly, never beyond four in 15 minutes. Try Mozilla and that doesn't work. FINALLY got Spider in about TWENTY minutes.
SUNDAY, 12/18/11: 12:05AM: Try to start Marj's notes on the laptop, but by error choose Word rather than Word 7, which may mess up Word 7, because when I FIRST try to read a file from Marj's flashdrive, the screen FREEZES with "running virus scan." So I go to the desktop to try to find Leslie-Lohman's address since Paul took the sheet with him to his conference this morning, and find the screen has frozen on "Windows is shutting down." So I press the button and it reloads, but Google REFUSES to start from Verizon AT ALL. Back to laptop and when I FINALLY get the SWISSALS file in, the FORMAT is different: rather than a balloon on the right denoting Marj's changes, I get 5/24/08 (or whatever) in BLUE on the screen, followed by MAY 24 in RED with a red line through it! Call Marj in MADNESS at computers, and we SCREAM at each other for about 15 minutes as I TRY to juggle both machines and make my progress KNOWN to her, confusing her beyond repair. FINALLY, having tried all combinations of "markup area" to no avail, I hit "balloons" and they REAPPEAR. So I put laptop on hibernate and get back to desktop to reboot AGAIN, which finally lets me get to Google and find that Leslie-Lohman is at 26 Wooster, near the Canal Street stop. So I did NO notes, just messed with goddam computers to 12:55PM!
FRIDAY, 12/30/11: 11:45AM: Hit screen on, MAYBE do something else, and BLACK screen has ONLY white-blinking cursor in upper left! Reboot, and it's OK.
SATURDAY, 6/2/12: 9-9:40PM! Say "print" when printer's not PLUGGED IN to Dell desktop, but printer BEEPS and text FREEZES when I connect it---but that's the HP printer!! The control for PAPER had slipped toward REAR, single feed, and moving it FORWARD is OK!
SUNDAY, 6/3/12: 7:15PM: Get directory JV on screen, cursor on NA1, hit "1" retrieve, and it FREEZES with cursor blinking in lower left. 7:20PM: Hit ctl-alt-del and CPO usage is 100%! Stop computer, try again, same result. My computer has 1.68Gb free on C, so it's not THAT problem. A SMALLER JV file works OK. NA2 is OK. [Later, one of these files is BAD at the start!]
TUESDAY, 6/5/12: 2:30PM: Hit alt-ent on C6 and get black screen. Ctl-alt-del gives C\C6\CINDEX and NOTHING. Then blinking white cursor in upper left! And ctl-alt-del does NOTHING. 2:40PM: Reboot! G:\OLDDRI\C6 a LONG wait for Cindex. Open AI12B and it FREEZES. 2:52PM: Reboot again, LOOK at AI12B compared to AI12C. AI12B.NDX is <DIR>!!! Finally get it to work.
SUNDAY, 7/1/12: 7:07PM: WP51 messes up! Try to delete a "damaged" block and it FREEZES. One little square green-plaid square on bottom border, then two, then MANY, and screen BLANKS. Shut off, and it's OK at 7:18PM. No, it freezes AGAIN when I---but it was just a large file to reposition, and it finally recovers. 8:24PM: SENDING WEB1980 it takes MINUTES "connecting." Log off again at 8:45, and finally it's SENT at 9PM.
WEDNESDAY, 7/4/12: 12:05PM: LIFELIST in lower half of WP, AR\NA in top half, I hit home-home-down and it FREEZES with "repositioning" blinking until 12:45PM, when I QUIT WP, and it's OK.
TUESDAY, 7/10/12: 8:10PM: Make a BIG ACAUS68 file and exit WP51 to go to WORD, find that I FORGOT to reorder page and go BACK to WP51 and start is CLOBBERED. I try to space down to find date, find none, and hit home-home-down and get ETERNAL "repositioning" with blinking cursor. DAMN!
FRIDAY, 7/13/12: 8PM: TWICE hit shift-print, and "2" for page, and nothing happens! Try third and fourth time, to no avail. Can't do it from doc. 2? Back to doc. 1, and it PRINTS at 8:07PM, and MEDICAL then prints at 8:12PM. NEW FACT!
SUNDAY, 7/15/12: 8:01AM: Turn on screen and it's FROZEN on "Windows is shutting down" from some updating. Shut off and restart, VERY slow coming back, to 8:04AM.
FRIDAY, 7/20/12: 1:50PM: Adobe Reader 9.2.0 (cpsid_50026) failed to install (for third or fourth time).
WEDNESDAY, 8/1/12: 12:43PM: Directory C:\AR\*.* and hit 1, retrieve, on DREAMS at 493k, and it FREEZES, cursor blinking in lower left. CPU usage 100%. END WP and CPU usage 2%. CLOSE all and try AGAIN, and get SAME!
SATURDAY, 8/11/12: 2:30PM: Outlook Express won't DELETE. Try restart; same result. Call Verizon 3:05PM, "Service out till 7:13PM. Call back then."
TUESDAY, 8/21/12: 2:20PM: Try to SEND ISDATEOFF and "attach" vanishes on hitting "Send," and it comes up (not responding) TWICE. Close it. Open Outlook Express again and hit "send/receive" and get (not responding).
FRIDAY, 8/24/12: 3:40PM: FINALLY get in-home agent on screen. "Loading initial settings. Please wait" transfers 5-6 times! Call Verizon 3:50PM. Hit Reset and it's OK at 4:10PM.
SUNDAY, 9/30/12: 8:50PM: Left WP51 on, and it FREEZES! Ctl-alt-del NOT WORK! Finally hit shut-off button. Hit "power on" button in middle of tower and it SHUTS OFF instantly! Get some kind of "Alert" flashed on screen!!! Let it rest? 10PM: Still "Alert." and shut it off. "Fail at checkpoint [Krst]. Call Dell technical support." I finally read after pressing start and recording 2-3 words at a time.
MONDAY, 10/1/12: 10:01AM: Dial 1-800-624-9896. Premium service beyond warranty. 10:08: Dial 1-800-822-8965. 10:26AM: Agent suggests I press F12 and F2 while putting power on, and I get nothing. He will check further, assuming main drive failure. He calls it a "No-post issue." I "need a new motherboard." Get Service Trouble Ticket: 864891246. 10:37AM: Connect to Support and give cost. Out of Warranty Department, talk to Jobs. He transfers me at 10:40AM to 1-800-288-4410. He can "cancel $59 service charge" since I'm such a good customer (yeah, with a desktop AND a laptop!). Repeated "Please wait" recordings. 10:43AM: Then MUSIC (and AWFUL music!) and messages. 10:47AM: Manish (in Delhi) says I must go to Sales Team, since I have a Business Computer, that I should take Option 2 when dialing 1-800-288-4410. 10:52AM: Back to "Please wait" messages. 10:53AM: Angel, in Panama City, tells me that the technician will charge $179, and the total cost, with the new motherboard, will be $337.51, which I have to pay with him with my Visa card. I'll get service in 3-5 business days. Get Order Number 197509520. 11:01AM: Set up credit card. That goes to 11:09AM. Then phone Marj to 11:18AM and Spartacus to 11:33AM and then have breakfast!
THURSDAY, 10/4/12: On waking decide to CHECK if my technician has been assigned. Call at 10:45AM, and Santiago starts helping me, saying that he's at extension 7417296, which makes me laugh aloud, and when he questions me I say that I'm glad to see he's one of seven million! He puts me on silent hold (no music, bless him) and I stare at wall because I don't have computer on which to play games! At 10:59AM he returns to say it will be just a few more minutes. My Dispatch Number is 159595102, and it'll probably turn out to be Monday, but when I express GREAT displeasure, he says that it'll take two hours to get the motherboard ordered (or something like that), and then he'll try to get a technician for Friday morning. I thank him and hope it works.
FRIDAY, 10/5/12: Got a call at 3:05PM from the Dell technician, saying he'd either be very late or come on Monday. I asked how late "very late" was and he said maybe as late at 7PM. I say I prefer that to Monday. Call Spartacus and let him know. Still busy at 5:06PM; I'll bet she just FORGOT to put the phone back on?? Well, but she had it ON before? FUCK!!! Technician buzzes at 5:30PM and says he'll be finished by 6:30PM! COMPUTER TURNS ON!!! I'm astounded, but he says it happens all the time. He replaces motherboard, saying that other signs indicated that this might be a good thing. He's impressed by my IBM experience, my view, and my keeping WP51. He finishes at 6:32PM, and we both go down on the elevator. Computer now works as it did.
FRIDAY, 10/12/12: 4:30PM: I keep hearing little “burrs” behind me, and then they got CONSTANT, and I found my FLOPPY disk on A: being accessed! LOOKED at A: on “my computer” and it looked OK. Take A: out, and put it back, and nothing happens. EDGE is off, so CINDEX couldn’t have done it! 4:35PM: It buzzes AGAIN! CINDEX 5.1 on ICON not “activated.”
SUNDAY, 12/16/12: 8:15AM: “No signal.” Computer OFF, push START; FIRST two times “Dell” briefly, THEN 4-5 times “Previous attempts….! 11:20AM: Didn’t HOLD button in and it’s OK!
FRIDAY, 12/28/12: 12:45PM: Microsoft Word takes AGES to load, and then loads FOUR of them, WITH Zone and WP51 open. Try from “Start” button and SAME delay. CLOSE Zone and WP51 and it’s OK! 1PM: STILL won’t go! 2PM: “Word is converting WEBDRI11E” FREEZES?
MONDAY, 1/21/13: 9:23PM: Try e-mail: error! Try again, get “POP3 60 seconds” twice and STOP. Get “No new messages.”
WEDNESDAY, 1/23/13: 11PM: Blue-screen message---error---reboot. “Overrun a stack-based buffer.” Happens twice. Third time: Press F8 to select Advances Status Option. Select Safe Mode. DO that, spins “multi disk” entries, with LARGER arrow and LARGER icons. C: 3.82 gig free!
WEDNESDAY, 2/27/13: 8:25PM: After trying to PRINT photo for 45 MINUTES, TURN OFF computer. Then 8:30PM: “Windows is shutting down” and THEN restart, and it’s OK.
WEDNESDAY, 6/5/13: 10:20PM: Try to print a page, but must hit something wrong, because cursor FREEZES at end of page 19. Take a PHOTO of the text I printed and will probably LOSE it when I restart computer. I DO lose it, and try it again, and it REPEATS at 10:47PM. At 11:03PM I prove that I can't print ANYTHING. Try switching "left paper tab," but get same result at 11:07PM. Just turn it off in disgust! At 1:40PM 6/6 find that the PLUG was loose in back!
THURSDAY, 8/15/13: Playing Taipei at 6:15PM when the tile-clicks work INCREASINGLY poorly, writing a COMPCHRO note asking Computer dying? CPU usage is 100% that changes between 6% and 100%. Shut computer off, and at 6:25PM restart, and this time NOTHING works: NO icons can be clicked. 6:36PM restart again, and again nothing clicks. 6:37PM shut off, maybe let it cool down? Try again at 8:10PM, still not work. Then decide to go to bed after trying computer again at 10:07PM, weighing 192.6# when I get to bed at 10:20PM, feeling depressed.
FRIDAY, 8/16/13: 4AM: Thinking about desktop-computer death. 6:25AM: Get START menu, but can’t get “my computer.” Shut off at 6:35AM. Try AGAIN at 8:15AM, nothing works. Check to find that its lifetime was 10/18/03 to 8/15/13, two months short of ten years. Leave word with Dan Jarecki. Go to slides and torchere burns out! Dan calls at 11:20AM and agrees to come over at 1PM tomorrow.
SATURDAY, 8/17/13: Dan, who arrives at 1:30PM and manages, using only the right mouse-click, to transfer onto my flashdrive the latest versions of NP, DI, DJ, and MEDICAL. For a while I think he could not get SPIDER, but it turns out he did. He got Solitaire, which turned out to need CARDS.DLL, and Taipei, which turned out to need ABOUTWEP.DLL, which I got, but it didn’t seem to help. He worked for two hours, and then we found a Verizon store on Montague, and went there about 4:30PM, where Dan asked the questions I didn’t know how to ask, and I bought an iPhone5, retailing for $650, for $200, including $30 for the belt-shell, $15 for the protective film on the face of it, for a Visa total of $266.71. An activation fee of $35 was added to my new phone number of 917-789-2067, and with my $30/month phone bill and my $30/month 2GB data bill, made my estimated first bill $117.43, and my head spun with all the things I could do. We left at 5:50PM and he reminded himself that I hadn’t written him a check. I figured I could pay him when he returned to add the GB of RAM he ordered for me for $39 to make my “memory” (as opposed to capacity) bigger and my results faster, but he wanted it now as a matter of his policy, and we came back to my place at 5:55PM to have him say $150? I protested it should be $200, and he permitted me to convince him. He certainly gave more than four hours of service.
THURSDAY, 8/29/13: 1:12PM: Cursing and swearing! Yesterday took HOURS updating from 8/20 to 8/27, and then downloaded PAGES of DREAMS from Neo (and then CLEARED FILES, like an IDIOT!!!!!!). And then tried to save them, and it went into Not-Responding mode and when I shut computer off, I LOST them!! SHIT!! [Turned out to have lost 17 dreams from 7/16-8/28. DAMN!] Get HP ink-jet cartridge and PRINT three Notebook Q pages to 10:05PM! And I get TAIPEI to play to 11:05PM.
FRIDAY, 8/30/13: 6:20PM: In turning around at my desk PULL THE HP PRINTER CRASHING DOWN to the floor. It seems to work, but always wants to initialize, and then prints in ONE SQUARE INCH. Try and try, but it’s TOTAL madness.
TUESDAY, 9/3/13: 2:10PM: I’m just about to print a test page when Spartacus and Joel leave for lunch at Iron Chef, and I print a page and it WORKS! Print a second page just to make sure, and call Marj in total joy from 2:11-2:40PM. It just needed to be shut off and restarted!
WEDNESDAY, 9/4/13: Dan buzzes at 1:03PM. He says that AVG is probably free for a year, and when it expires, get NEW free year. The auto text bobzolnerzak@verizon.net makes him have to add auto text to my copy of Word, and it will work ONLY in Word, but when I try it, it comes out ENORMOUS and turns the previous text blue, so I’m happy that he introduced me to CTL-Z that removes the last operation---and CONTINUES to remove the last every time it’s pressed, which is even better than WP51. He forgot his toolkit, but my little screwdriver works perfectly, and he installs the 1GB memory in the “outer” innards, as opposed to the “inner” innards. Then I ask him to look at the Verizon Wireless receipts to see why they seem to have a different credit card for me, and he counts the X’s and it turns out that “10” refers to the fourth- and third-last characters of my CURRENT 1087 card! I want him to make sure that I pay with my OWN credit card, and he goes to the site and finds things are NOT straightforward, so he signs me up to pay for it, and I feel that I’ve invested wisely in having HIM do it! He also repeats what he’s said before, that I should restart the computer once a day to CLEAR it from an accumulation of junk during the day. He keeps asking me what I need, and I tell him I really don’t know the iPhone5, so he asks me to get it, tells me how to turn it on, and explains a few things about it, including that it uses power very quickly and should have a stable place where the charger can be plugged in when I need it. He finally leaves at 3:10PM, and I’m rather surprised when he says “$150” when I ask what the check should be, but I’d told him that he’d filled my memory buffer to over-capacity, so I’m happy enough to give it to him.
WEDNESDAY, 9/18/13: 8:13AM: AGAIN try the frustrating operation of combining a page number with a header, DAMN impossible!
SATURDAY, 10/5/13: Dan doesn’t show up on the stroke of 1PM, but he rings the bell at 1:05PM and comes in to remark that my desk area seems bare now that the old computer is gone---but not totally. He sees that 1) the Mail problem is merely timing, 2) starts downloading the iPhone5 modifications, 3) shows me how to get the page number on the header (choosing one on LEFT, though that’s not where it GOES!), 4) sets up special folders for “junk” of subways and Facebook, though he shows me how to comment, even though many refinements are not possible since my system seems wed to Internet Explorer 8, not 9 or 10, and he changes my screen to Google Chrome, which give me a new kind of bookmark set-up, 5) shows me how to get Zolnerzone and Word on the same screen, 6) says I can ignore all the AVG messages, 7) tells me that the “user account off” saves lots of clicking around unneeded messages, 8) and clears up lots of iPhone5 questions, getting me Brooklyn maps rather than the wrong Google maps. End with over an hour trying to STOP Mail from trying to send 1048 slides at 126Mb to Tris, which Dan finally solves. This goes to 4:10PM and he asks for $150 in cash. I say it should be divisible by $20, so he says $140, which I don’t accept so I go to my wallet and get a $10. [Added following when I thought I’d lost any COMPCHRO for 10/5/13:] For page number: 1) Double-click “above” text and cursor is in “Header.” 2) Type header, and tab to center, hit “page number” and “current position” and choose “plain number.”
To make Junk Folder: Highlight Message, then Tools, then Message Rules, and in New “People” goes to Facebook; MOVE to folder. Local folders: New folder, “Facebook.” Rule “Facebook.”
Google Chrome is my new browser.
On my iPhone, Safari goes to zolnerzone. I’m IN iTunes. Drag icons and press “home” to stop wiggle. = (three lines) is SCALE. Word on left; zolnerzone on right. Copying FB, drag web images to desktop, click CTL-A for all, and will go slide by slide.
FRIDAY, 10/11/13: 10:05AM: I phone Dan to say I’m ready to think about ordering a Toshiba computer so I don’t have to worry about storage on my Dell when I think of Olympus-programming all my slide shows. He starts talking about waiting for changes, and I say I’m involved in other things and will get back to him in a week.
WEDNESDAY, 10/30/13: Toshiba delivered. COMPUTER LIFE-TIMES:
TRS-80: Buy 12/30/82, $9814.70.
PRO-486/33: Buy 1/23/92, $3383.
12/17/92: TRS data transferred to Pro.
11/8/96: Update to Pentium 133 MH, 32 MB RAM, $949.39.
10/17/03: Dell desktop ordered, $1734.84.
5/10/07: Dell laptop ordered, $741.31. 2/6/07: Marj starts proofing.
10/23/13: Toshiba laptop shipped, $1004.29.
TUESDAY, 11/5/13: Dan’s first visit for $260.
THURSDAY, 11/28/13: Work with Toshiba.
SUNDAY, 1/26/14: Install Adobe reader XI(11). OK per Dan.
FRIDAY, 2/7/14: “First time this year,” with Verizon “Assist.”
THURSDAY, 2/27/14: Then at 10:47AM get to Cindex, opening the Toshiba at 10:48AM, finding Cindex setup in Downloads, try to install Cindex, which turns out to have a six-month warranty, get my Toshiba serial number of XD055526C, but that doesn’t light up the “Next” box though I try different things: putting in my full name, putting in Toshiba Computer, finally even trying to send an e-mail to Frances Lennie, whose phone number I just CANNOT find, at INDEXER.com, which seems to work, though later I find it’s INDEXRES, and then find I can access the program ITSELF, and try entering five items, but get messed up with icons reappearing, having to reload name five or six times, and going CRAZY to 12:15PM, getting a call from Spartacus at 11:50AM to meet at 1PM for lunch, and at 12:25AM call Dan that I’m LOSING MY MIND and to please call me back!
FRIDAY, 2/28/14: 4:10PM Trojan Horse “removed” by AVG, OK? Dan: Yes. Closing lid is same as “Sleep.” WINDOWS-D goes to desktop. WINDOWS-S is Search. Install Toshiba Service Station.
WEDNESDAY, 3/5/14: Dan here 1:30-5PM, $140? On Dell: Avasti finishes “list of viruses.” CD in file. JPEGs in desktop new “Burn folder.” CTL-A selects all; move to file, burn to disk. Going to Box.com shares files with OTHERS. March 7 is Steve’s birthday, but he doesn’t want anyone to know.
THURSDAY, 3/6/14: List of questions for Dan about the Toshiba:
Make “group e-mail” address? [Did, quickly lost; must do again]
ADS all over---just have to accept them---he DID minimize them.
No favorite with /weekend? [No idea what this means]
Reload old Word? [New Word has same tracking]
What Word does Toshiba have?
Put it to sleep and it turns back on? [Still doing it]
Going to zolnerzone brings up ads.
Now an ad to left in gmail---OK---[now gone]
Box try? [Tris did get the trial file I sent]
In gmail, click WINDOWS (the four squares), want Solitaire, get gmail.
Endless updates and restarts to sign in after [since stopped]
How do I reduce “e-mail” to 0? [Not a problem now]
Delete “Play Games” icon.
How to get “sent” from gmail blank? [press arrow]
How to “copy and paste link?” [Highlight “to be cut”, CTL-C, cursor on place to put, and CTL-V]
Error cycle going into Metopera? [stopped}
Stop e-mail “bong” when I’m gaming!
Ads on sides of metoperafamily.org
Hit WINDOWS Google Chrome and get “ding”
“Infected” message at AE bottom?
Ad below solitaire? [OK]
DREAMSJ [Neo2 to Toshiba]
Touching WHAT in WORD brings Bing Sports? [Gone]
WEDNESDAY, 3/26/14: Dan here 3:45-6:10PM, $160. 1) Ads OK mostly.
2) He runs Malware bytes and CCleaner. 3) He replaces Bing with Google. 4) To get group e-mail: Windows: S, put in Contacts, get New Contact Group.
5) Alt-Tab RETURNS to previous page. 6) F5 turns track pad on and off.
FRIDAY, 5/9/14: Look at COMPCHRO to 3:55PM. Where is 501-519? Missing page 531 (CCOMP p.15) and 537-539. Move to clipboard and then to file. Hawaii trip May 10-27, 1983.
THURSDAY, 5/15/14: DISGUST at “lost” CCOMP and CCHRON, and LW Dan. 6PM: Realize I did CCOMP on DELL, not Toshiba! Decide to let John type CHRON 501-518, 531, and 537-539. Save CCOMP at page 53 at 10:55PM.
TUESDAY, 5/27/14: 3PM: COMPCHRO NOT on G (Edge), not on G:/Bob. COMPCHRO is IN MC on Cruzen flashdrive.
SATURDAY, 5/31/14: 1:05PM, Dan takes an HOUR, 1) when I indicate I’d like to know if Pinnacle would still work, and I take down the baskets from above the shelving to find my Sony camcorder, dusty with age, with a last renewal of maintenance to 4/13! I show him my wire drawer and he proceeds to go through it, piece by piece, throwing out about half of it and keeping the other half, and then not CHARGING me for that time! 2) In looking at my file, he puts on the “show spaces” button and that somehow manages to CLEAR the problem of the 5XX-page numbers on the CCOMP file. 3) I’d managed to find COMCRNEW and ALL pages of LIFE0013 on the Dell, so THOSE were solved before he got here. 4) I’d already talked myself out of the “FUCK!!! Memo” problem by figuring I’d deleted it, and when he made the e-mails NOT hierarchical, he also clicked on “show ALL e-mails,” so I suddenly had 636 unread e-mails! 5) He said the slowness of the mouse might be because I hadn’t restarted the computer in a long time---and that could also cause small glitches in the mouse-use. At one point I even put in a new AAA battery to replace one that was weak. 6) He said rechargeable batteries should be no problem in the mouse. 7) He just repeated that I probably brush one of the F-keys to cause the “touch light” to go out. 8) When I asked how to exit from WINDOWS, he tells me about the new “cap” that WINOWS 8.1.1 put on all programs so they CAN be closed. 9) Tell him that even Dell doesn’t use Internet Express. 10) He said that sleep would EVENTUALLY come on, even if it didn’t right away, AND it would always work with just a closed lid. 11) I never did get to the problem of Chrome//Settings not filling in my name. 12) He strongly suggested I have only ONE copy of everything, and keep things “in order” so I know where everything IS. 13) By going to Google endlessly he found that I could ONLY send a group mail to 19 by going to Conduit.com, and I said it just wasn’t worth the extra hassle: I’ll just add 19 names. It took him AGES to do it, as he cursed Microsoft for changing the system ENDLESSLY, saying Apple got more customers in the last few months than ever before because of Microsoft’s changing the playing field so even experts like DAN were lost. 14) I was brain-dead long before that, so I just flaked out ANY thought of having any food with him. And now I’ll have the problem of how to print this, because he EXPANDED the CCOMP file to 104 pages, and I stopped putting header labels on the file in preparation to sending it to Tris, so I’ll have to make THIS the end of the CCOMP file!
WEDNESDAY, 6/18/14: 9:45PM: Finish EDITING file, ready to send to Tris. Go through file a SECOND time for minor edits and finish at 10:20PM.
END