November 2008 Issue

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The Usual Chat

2008 has been a bad year for me, everything seems to have gone wrong. I am getting, or rather have got, old so I suspect that some of the things are my fault but not the two main things.

Friends will know that I have spent well over £2000 on a car this year and it is still in the garage not working.

Computer Problems

My computer has been out of action for over a month. It was taken in for what I thought would be a simple fault. The recording drive crashed most times that I attempted to use it so I took it in for repair expecting to have to have a new drive fitted.

I was told that the problem was a failing hard drive. I could not find the logic in this but, as I am no expert, went along with it and had a new drive fitted. I took the opportunity to have a larger capacity one fitted so I did not feel too bad about it.

The next time I attempted to record to the drive however the same fault occurred. Back at the shop I was told that they would have to do a complete re-format of the hard drive. I was not too worried about this as I had backed up my files but thought it a bit of a nuisance as it meant installing all of my programs again and some had become out of date.

A week later I called about the computer and was told that the memory was faulty and needed replacing. I took the opportunity to have this upgraded too and another week later I collected the computer only to find that the TV card was not working.

Back at the shop a few days later I was told that they had tried all they could to get the TV card working without success. The card was tried in another computer and it worked perfectly. A card from another customers computer worked perfectly. I was told that the only thing that they could do was to fit another TV card which would have to be ordered.

A week later I called to see if my computer was ready but was told that they had received a new TV card but it would not work in my computer. After making inquiries they had been told that a special card was needed but these were in short supply and they had no idea when one would be available. You may think that I was very patient to put up with all this but the shop staff were very nice and apologetic and I was told that I would not be charged for any additional labour above that which I had already paid. This certainly seemed to be very reasonable considering the work that had been done on my computer.

At one point I was told that I would probably have to have a new copy of Windows XP installed but that the version I had was no longer available. However, after a lot of 'phoning around, they did manage to get a suitable TV card which was successfully fitted. I was charged the trade price for this which I feel was very fair.

The computer is now back with me and working well except that I have been unable to install some programs as the serial numbers are out of date. I am working on this.

Back home, the newsletter is due. This is usually sent as an email attachment to Bryan who edits it and sends it out. This gave me another problem as I am not a user of the internet much and so I had difficulty in getting connected.

With help from Nigel and Bryan however all is now well and this newsletter will be sent to Bryan later this evening.

Colden Common Computer Club

On Wednesday the 5^th of November Bryan arranged for us to attend a meeting of the Colden Common Computer Club to meet the members and discuss the possibility of our two clubs amalgamating.

Another problem I have had this year is my deteriorating eyesight. I recently had a cataract operation on one eye and am due for another in a few weeks time. I can see to drive OK but I am not too happy at night. I arranged to meet Bryan at the club at 8.00pm.

At 7.00pm I had unexpected visitors from London who happened to be in the area. I explained that I was to attend a meeting and they left at 7.30pm.

I had no exact idea where the meeting was to be held although I knew the address. I set my trusty Tom Tom and set off for the meeting along country roads. I was not too happy about driving but I took things steadily and relied on my Tom Tom. I was getting near to my destination when I encountered road signs redirecting me as the road to my destination was closed.

I followed the signs for miles and eventually finished up back where the diversion had started. I set off again thinking that I must have missed something only to finish up at the same starting point. I set off once more making my own way but I just could not find my destination at all. It was dark and I was a bit worried so I gave up.