My Online Off-line Vacation

[mso489]

I've complained about my loss of internet including most web sites and email. Being a member of Forums has been a huge blessing. It's lack of encryption has enabled me to have a dependable line to the world. A few other sites like Wikipedia and Pipepedia have remained open for the same reason. I've located a tech group, not only local but not far away, who offers analysis and update and who says a ten-year-old computer may well be salvageable. I take it to them for a consultation. They keep it for three or four days, phone me with their opinion, and either put it back in service or sell me a new one. They don't say, but I surmise the fix is good for three or four years before the old hardware finally becomes unsalvageable. They estimate the fix of the current one will be a few hundred, or a little more. My device will be the stalking horse, and if they do an acceptable job at an acceptable price, I will take my wife's device, or maybe to, to get her better connected. She's not as isolated as I, but needing some serious tweaking. Bottom line, I'll disappear off Forums for a while. A blessed respite for my fellow members. Probably I'll be better behaved and not quite so omnipresent when I resurface. It'll be a day or two before my hiatus begins. Enjoy the blessed silence from my avatar/username!

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'd hit the market for a good used Mac laptop.... Come back soon!

 

[danimalia]

Hope you enjoy your time offline and the tech guys are able to help you out.
Have you ever considered a Chromebook? They're relatively inexpensive laptops designed for internet tasks. In my experience, they're really fast, pretty easy to use and perfect for most of what I do. Only downside is if you tend to have to print documents, as you need a cloud enabled printer.

 

[mso489]

jpm' and dani', thank you for your suggestions. I have considered laptops each time I've bought computers for home, and they have great versatility for most users. I am quirky, to say the least, as relates to devices and the digital world in general. I intentionally don't want to transport the device around, so the portability factor doesn't help me. Having it in one place keeps the technical world a little more in its place, from my (unquestionably irrational) point of view. I think my tech troubles are partly mindset. I think decidedly differently from the people who design the hardware and programs. I admire them for being the masters of the age, but I'm kind of a polar opposite. Also, I had a really poor midlife introduction to the digital world. "Are you using Apple or Microsoft?" "Uh, I have a Decmate." Things didn't get much better at work, and when I finally caved and bought a computer for home, I was herded into a massive fraud scheme, free internet for a year, which turned out to be no internet at all, and hours of flim-flam from "customer assistance." An IBM guy, a friend, finally put things right, after months of struggle, in fifteen minutes. To my credit, I had hooked up the computer just fine, following the dumb-person's illustrated instructions. So where most of us take digital tech as a challenge and sometimes a fun game, to tame the electronics to our will, I experience it as a humiliation, fraud, and frustration, even while I use it every day, alas. So perhaps next I will buy a laptop. Anything is possible. But I lack the joy many feel in these tasks. I'm old school. If your rotary phone broke, you called the phone company and they fixed it. You weren't expected to train as a lineman and fit it yourself.

 

[puffy]

I recently got a new Lap Top.It stays in one place.It works great.Far better than my old computer..I know nothing of high tech devices so I can't recommend anything..I wish you luck in finding something that works for you.

 

[mso489]

Boy, I sure wish I had the knack for things digital. I've known several people fifteen or more years older than me who took to it immediately. It's the skill set of the times.

 

[scloyd]

I use a Lenovo Chromebook that I purchased in 2015 for less than $200. I use it at my desk, never anywhere else. I like it so much I purchased one for my mother (87 yrs. young) and got rid of her giant tower and monitor. She wasn't crazy about getting rid of the desktop but, after a few days she was fine.
My wife uses a pad, takes it everywhere and loves the portability. To each their own.

 

[weezell]

I bought a refurb tower from wal mart for $80 bucks 2 years ago and its still going strong...

 

[timt]

I've got a 2010 Macbook Pro that won't quit. Anything that doesn't need antivirus software to stay on top of is a plus for me.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'd recommend changing platforms unless you like a challenge.
Do I recall right, Tom, that you have a Mac now?

 

[mityahicks]

I'll make sure to keep the Burley smoke stacks billowing.

 

[elbert]

Laptops really have become fit-for-service when it comes to casual desktop-ish computing these days. I would only bother with a tower and monitor set up if I wanted the customization; more ram, larger screen, solid state drive, gaming rig, etc.
For anyone else I say laptop. Also easier to carry to the computer shop!

 

[mikethompson]

As long as Tom stays around the forum, I'm fine.

 

[danimalia]

As long as Tom stays around the forum, I'm fine.

Seconded. I've benefited a lot from his knowledge and really like interacting with him. Like his former cat, a real gentleman

 

[3rdguy]

I fought off getting an iPad for years but now I love it.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Tom,we are waiting for You to return, maximum a 5-day leave is admitted as of now, Greets,P

 

[elbert]

Tom,we are waiting for You to return, maximum a 5-day leave is admitted as of now, Greets,P

And if he goes AWOL, the whole Platoon is out with full kit until he's found!