Last week was a week of events for me...not all good. My trusty computer, which I named 'Henry' when he arrived in my home almost 5 years ago, started acting up last week. Actually, there had been signs for awhile that he wasn't feeling well, but I ignored them. 'Henry' had become stubborn when searching the internet and when doing everyday tasks would frequently scream for more memory. I thought he was just being difficult.
The diagnosis, after a seeing the 'specialists', is that 'Henry' is just old and tired. The Doctor told me that 'Henry' was just maxed out and needed to be retired in favor of a new model. The 'specialist' made a few adjustments so 'Henry' could properly execute his tasks for the moment...and the new model will be arriving perhaps yet this month or soon after the first of the year.
Well....this certainly brought on decisions that I hadn't been expecting. 'Henry' and I had become good friends. We understood each other and until most recently worked well together. I don't blame 'Henry'...he's been a faithful companion these past few years, and I understand that he's old and I'm asking much more of him now than I did in his younger years.
As a result, I've had big decisions to make in a short period of time. Henry is a PC...and I plan on staying with a PC. It's been the question of what operating system to get that has caused the biggest issue. I'm currently running Windows XP and I understand support for XP will cease in 2009. Vista, as we all know has had it's issues. There is supposed to be a new Windows 7 released in a year or two...I cant wait that long.
In between Henry's visits to the Doctor we did a few Google searches on Vista vs XP. It sounds like Vista has leveled out some what and that most of the issues have been with it's use on computers that didn't have enough memory to run it properly. The consensus of the 'experts' seems to be this. If you have a good running computer, wait for the release of Windows 7. If you need to do something today...get Vista. Knowing Henry's issues, I'm not in a position to wait for the new Windows 7....urghhhh! So, I guess it's Vista.
Hope Vista works well for me...it seems to be a HATE IT or LOVE IT situation with most people in the forums I visited. I guess if I hate it, I can always step back to XP. I will keep you updated.
Enough of this...'Henry' and I are going to color correct the high resolution scan I had done of the portrait I did for my grandson so he can give prints to his family. The large format printer that I use for my fine art prints was my other issue this week. We're not even going to go there now..perhaps another time.
Today's technology is soooooooooo beyond most of us everyday people. When it works, it's BEAUTIFUL. When it has a glitch, it just makes life miserable!
Links:
Website ...Marsha Robinett Fine Art
The Extraordinary Pencil...blogspot
My Squidoo ...Drawing Techniques
PS...make a point...leave a comment
Ice Cream.
2 months ago
6 comments:
Oh boy Marsha I think we have all been there at one time or another. I had to chuckle when I read your post - not at you mind you just with you ;-) Good luck! Keep us posted.
A word of warning, before you switch to Vista, make sure your printer and scanner will work with it. I have a scanner that is probably 5 years old and we couldn't get it to run on Vista no matter how hard we tried. As a result I scan from my laptop (which runs XP), copy the file to a stick, carry the stick to my desktop and do my photo manipulations there. It's a bit of a pain, but saved me from replacing a perfectly good scanner.
I know there are PC people and Mac people. I used to be a PC person myself, but went I jumped in and got a Mac, I fell head-over-heels in love. Not one problem in two years. Honest.
Does Henry just need cleaned out? Chances are if you backup your stuff on disc (pictures, videos, music), delete it all and then do some basic maintainance (clean out cache, defrag, spyware scan, etc., etc.), Henry will work just fine. Per Stacy's comment, she's right in that many old peripherals won't work with Vista because drivers simply weren't written in with the new operating system. I'm an HP loyalist and all of my older equipment fortunately has worked just fine. PM me if you need any help.
Karen,
Thanks for stopping by and glad I could make you chuckle. I will certainly keep you updated...after all I'm going to have a new 'man' of the house to name.
Stacy,
Thanks for your concern. I had to replace both my printers earlier this year, so they will be fine. As for my scanner..it kicked the bucket sometime ago.
Janell,
I understand what you are saying. PC and Mac lovers are akin to a cult...each is absolutely sold on what they have. I chose to again go with a PC because this is what I'm familiar with.
Actually the only problem 'Henry' has is that he's old and I'm working him too hard.
In fact 'Henry' is going to retire at my daughter's home. She and my grandson promised to treat him gently during these last years of his life.
Paul,
I appreciate your concern for 'Henry'. He was sent in for a cleaning earlier this week and prior to this I had done most of the other things you mentioned.
'Henry' just can't keep up with the pace of my work load anymore.
So what ever will you name this new one? and will it be male or female? :)
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