The ordeal is over; the weather isn't

Let’s see. We had summer one day last week. Thursday, if my memory is close. Now we’re back into the June weather and the weather forecast says we have a chance of showers daily right through Saturday. Now, of course, not everyone will see them every day, but I’d bet I’m not the only one tired of this weather. Tomorrow, senior fitness day, will be rather unpleasant.

My weekend was straight from that place some people tell me I’m going when I enter eternity. I’m not suggesting Heaven.

You may recall that last week I took the bull by the horn and began a task that probably should have been done many weeks ago. I re-installed Windows XP Pro on my main computer. That project ended up requiring assistance from Dell Support. The problem was I couldn’t find my drivers and utility disk that came with the computer.

The first thing the technician wanted to do was upgrade my firmware so he took control of the computer, downloaded the file and began installing it. He had told me not to touch my keyboard or mouse until he cleared it. A funky question box appeared, “Do you want to let the technician restart your computer to complete the installation?” I clicked, “Yes.” I shouldn’t have done that.

To make a long story short, and I like long stories, my action totally messed up the operation. We called it quits around 1 AM Friday morning as I was just plain getting too tired. It was still day time over in India. I was going to get a call the next morning to continue.

While waiting I installed Windows again and completed all I could without those drivers. We had already downloaded and installed the network and video drivers by using my laptop and a thumb drive. So I had everything all ready to go when once again Dell Support and I began our task.

It really went sort of smoothly after that and I began loading other programs Friday afternoon. Microsoft Office was no problem. I used the OEM version that came with the computer when I bought it (and Office). I had already loaded my virus and internet security software. Saturday I continued with other stuff, including my home accounting software.

That one presented a small problem as I didn’t have a new passkey. I sent the company a message explaining my problem and the response was super. I not only was sent a new key, they also gave me access to a full product download. But it turned out to be a different version, the home and small business one. You can’t imagine how different the two are. I wanted my plain home edition. Everything on my computer is legal and registered but I decided to take a chance on my familiar accounting program and install it.

You know it would install, but accept a key? For something to do while it loaded, I read the agreement and couldn’t believe my eyes. It comes with a three computer license for use in a single home. I was golden and used the second license. It runs beautifully. I had save my bank account files on my external hard drive so getting them into the new program took a couple clicks.

The time had come for another simple procedure, install my printer. I have a wireless network printer. I started installing it late Saturday morning, and by Sunday noontime, I was ready to dump the printer and all my computers. I not only didn’t have a printer, my home network was gone, too. I could still use the Internet because my main computer is hard wired to the wireless router which is hard wired to the modem. But that’s all I had.

After a long break, possibly a little nap, I went back to the task. This time, refreshed, the pieces began falling into place and by mid afternoon, everything was back working. The network, all installed programs, the printer, and the Internet connection were all working as the fine print said they should be. And the Old Gator Dude was once again a happy camper.

Now today, I’ll spend some time installing some of the other programs I absolutely need but rarely use and my ordeal will end.

Now if I could only have the same success with stopping the rain . . .

GiM