Although I try to avoid change, I thought it was time to give it a go today. This is the result. I hope it is anyway, as I can’t currently view it myself. I’m working WordPress in Chrome, because that knows my password (I, unfortunately don’t) and Blogger in Firefox because Blogger won’t open up when you use, as I do, XP and Chrome.
I’ve been limping on for well over a year now with this ancient set-up after my laptop packed up and I’m resisting replacing it. I keep meaning to see if I can get it fixed but I don’t really want to put myself in the hands of PC World (who always seem keen to take lots of money off me but give little in return).
I refer you to an incident several years ago. We bought Number One son a laptop when he went to University in Leeds, and purchased, at vast cost, an insurance policy, working on the basis that all kids are idiots and ours add carelessness and clumsiness to the mix.
He dropped it and broke the hinge so that it didn’t close properly and it interfered with the automatic close down when you closed the lid.
We told him to take it in to PC World in Leeds and get it fixed or replaced under guarantee. The shop had told us it covered any damage or malfunction for the next three years. How lucky it was that we had taken out the guarantee.
They told him he had to take it back to Nottingham. So we went up and collected it. . In Nottingham they said they would send it away, and two weeks later we were able to pick it up.
So, you are thinking, the Fat Man is out by two trips to Leeds and annoyed with a shop manager. Why is he still nursing a grudge against PC World?
Because it was still broken when it came back. The computer was still functioning and they had cobbled it together so the broken hinge didn’t affect the running of the machine. It was however, still broken, you couldn’t close the top properly and he was without it for a total of four weeks.
For that I had paid the best part of £200. They might just as well have stuck a gun in my ribs and emptied my wallet. But even if they had done that, I’d have probably forgiven them. But to lie to me, deprive my son of his laptop then virtually laugh in my face as they refused to honour the guarantee, that is an insult that will not be forgotten.
I will have to get the laptop fixed soon I think, as this desktop is getting to the end of its useful life.
Now I’ve said that I’d better start backing up some files.
Mm, I’m not impressed with PC World either. In the end, a friend of a friend mended the computer they wouldn’t.
My friend who repairs computers is on holiday but has said he will look at the PC, then I will ask what he thinks of the local shops.
I hope your friend can help you out!
I’m sure he can.
That’s good!
PS. I had a look at a Blogger forum for help on a spellchecker for the blogs there and apparently Grammarly is good and can be used in Chrome browser. Here’s a link to it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grammarly-for-chrome/kbfnbcaeplbcioakkpcpgfkobkghlhen?hl=en
It probably also had a word count facility, but I’m not sure about that.
Thank you. You are a true wonder. 🙂
Your blog on blogger looks fine. I can do a screenshot of it for you if you want (but then the image would reside, til I delete it, in my media library). It’s a very good idea to have more than one or two browsers on your computer, as some sites always look better in one than another. I use WordPress in Opera. It works in Firefox but even on a Windows 10 operating system, it has glitches. Try Opera. You’ll need to get an older version for Windows XP. I found this forum thread that says how: https://forums.opera.com/topic/39434/which-version-is-still-supporting-windows-xp/5
A couple of other thoughts. You really need to know your password. You can easily change it if you forget it, but the problem with all sites online, including this one, is a lot of things that go wrong need fixing by clearing your computer’s cache and that always logs you out of your account.
I understand your reticence to send your pc to PC World, who always seemed to me to be a not-very-good outfit. I’ve nearly always gone to independant or smaller repair services. However, I made a really bad error a year or two ago when my pc crashed and I sent it back to Dell to be repaired and they wiped the hard drives (I have two in my computer: one for the system files, one for the data). That would have been fine if I’d been able to back them up before I sent the pc, but I hadn’t, and also I’d forgotten for the previous four months to back up my computer at all- and I lost four months of artwork amongst other things.
The computer I had before my current one was XP – I didn’t transition from XP to Windows 7 and then 8 before moving to Windows 10 as many do, so when I did start using 10 it was quite a shock, but with hindsight one I’m glad I made. XP is very unsecure, there are no updates for it, software and programs are no longer made for it, and even a lot of printers won’t work with it either anymore. So it’s worth your while, to update. There are some cheap laptops and desktops out there if you look. You can always run both the old and new ones til you get used to the new system.
And yes, sadly this is the problem with having computers: the financial output on them is high, and is every few years. But maybe think of it like the upkeep of a house? Eventually you have to spend money on the roof, on the walls, etc. LIkewise other electrical appliances. It’s just another of those, really.
The difference with computers is that whereas I spend money to keep my roof waterproof I have to spend money on the computer because some geek in a Californian office has brushed the smashed avo from their chin and decided to cost me money by “improving” something that already works perfectly well.
Very right to hold a grudge against such incompetence.
If it had been me I’d not have felt to so bad, but they let one of the kids down and I don’t like that. (Even though I tell everyone the happiest day of my life was when they left home…)
Don’t mess with our best beloveds!
Exactly!
Interestingly your link sent me to Blogger but only showed the posts of my friend Sandy and non of yours.
Ominously I noticed a link in a side bar saying “Return to legacy Blogger”. But I suppose that if you are coming to the platform new, you won’t miss what you haven’t used.
I’m having serious misgivings about Blogger as I seem to be the only one there when I log on. I thought then link didn’t look right. You are correct about the legacy, but even the new one seems rudimentary compared to WordPress. I am looking at a number of options.
I take it that you have a blog going on blogger. Can I ask you what the address is?
I think this might be it. I am struggling with it.
https://mischiefofmagpies.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-day-of-change.html
That link worked. Commenting on blogger is a pain but I have left a remark.
Thank you. My first one!
A pleasure.
I just went over to have a look. It wants me to open a lot of cookie permissions before I can even see anything. Right now it comes up as a blank page.
I’m sorry about that. I think I’m going to pull it and have a rethink as it doesn’t want to work for me on Chrome, which is my normal browser.
The backing up is a good idea.
There are only two sorts of writer, they say – the ones who have lost everything in a hard disk crash and the ones that haven’t, yet…
Very true.
🙂
I need a new computer. Add that to my list of things I sort of need but can wait
I might just have to bite the bullet and spend some money. I spoke to a friend of mine who tells me that the laptop may well be a terminal case, which is another reason I’ve put things off.