New life for an old computer

In two recent posts I wrote about the problems with my old desktop and what has turned out so far to be a disastrous attempt to replace it. In hindsight this was a classic example of ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’. I completely overlooked the obvious. While talking with neighbors about the problems several of them recommended a young man in the neighborhood who has a good reputation fixing hardware and software issues. We asked him to look at our desktop. He said the noise at startup was not the hard drive. He replaced the power supply and cooling fan. He replaced small parts on the card reader and DVD functions. Both had worked infrequently only after much coaxing. He replaced the corrupted XP operating system with a clean Windows 7. He was here for over six hours; the last two configuring system defaults to our preferences and helping us to learn how Windows 7 operates. We couldn’t be happier. Everything is working smoothly. It’s as if we have a new computer. Parts and labor cost us $61.

I’m on the verge of trusting him with the new laptop. He tried to start it and said the problem is definitely the hard drive. He is also hopeful he can repair or replace the drive without losing Windows 10 and Office. Best Buy in Miami where I bought it is no help so I can’t see that I have anything to lose

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One issue with our refurbished computer is disc space. When the computer guy loaded our files into the new OS he put them all in the D drive, which is now 96% full. The system keeps warning us about this. So for the last few days we have been deleting. I estimate we have a million photos. We have 50,000 photos of our niece CJ alone. Here is CJ at age one hour; here she is at age two hours, etc. I think we have photos of CJ doing everything she has ever done, except sitting on the potty. Opps, I retract that statement.

Some albums are seven layers deep. We discovered we have many duplicate and triplicate photos and documents scattered in those layers and in multiple drives. I figure we’ll have all unwanted photos and documents deleted and the remainder organized in about eight years. And that’s only if I stop getting sidetracked. I’m finding documents from years ago that I only have vague memories of writing.

Below is an example. It looks like I was on a forum and was not happy with some of the forum members. I have no idea when, what forum it was, or if I even actually posted it. My ‘unique’ sense of humor has not changed much.

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Yeah…well….see, that’s the thing. I mean, it’s easy to write stuff on a forum but perspectives are not static, so often…well, maybe not often, but in point of fact (what does that mean…”in point of fact”? I never did understand what that means) we frequently….THWACK! Ow!!! What did you do that for?

You were experiencing another synaptic gap loop, Tom.

You didn’t have to hit me in the head!

I’ve found it to be an effective attention getter.

Who are you, anyway?

Does it matter?

Probably not. Where was I. Oh yeah…I was saying that words we may use in the spare of the moment (what does that mean…”in the spare of the moment”?) I never did understand what that means) over time may appear….THWACK! Ow!!! Dammit!!

You were in another loop.

Okay but you better find another attention getter. Your present method is highly offensive. THWACK! Ow!!! What was wrong with that!?

It’s not highly offensive. It’s deeply offensive….deeply.

I don’t think so. I think it’s “highly.”

No…..it’s “deeply.”

Look, here’s an idea. There are some folks on this forum who are experts at being highly offended - DON’T YOU DO IT!

I’ll let it go this time

…..highly offended. Let’s ask for their opinion.

That wouldn’t work. They would take offense at the question.

Ha ha--you just reminded me of the old Al Capp cartoon strip; Little Abner. Do you remember during the 60s when he came up with the acronym SWINE…Students Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything”? THWACK! Ow!!! What the...!!

not politically correct Tom. You can’t single out a group of people these days and say something that could be considered derogatory.

Well what can I say that doesn’t get me a hit in the head?

How about just getting back to your post?

I forgot what the thread is about.

You forgot what the thread is about? So what!? Just write something. It doesn’t make any difference! It has never made any difference! SWINE don’t care about the intent of a thread!! They’re only looking for something that could be construed as being politically incorrect so they can play victim and express their righteous indignation and…THWACK!

Ow!!! What did you do that for?

It’s called payback pal, payback.

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This is the last time that document will ever see the light of day. I need to force myself to delete it and hundreds of other old documents without reading them. I’ll probably lose some that I should have kept but the alternative is to never finish this project.