Friday, May 6, 2011

Back up your files - Computer up and died





First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind comments on the photos of Nanci's orchids. They are beautiful blooms that I enjoy seeing.


The Computer Saga

Well, this computer problem started Sat. morning, after I had signed in, with a message box saying I wasn't allowed acces and an error msg. in another window popped up. We copied down the number then DH got online to do some research. He read in forums, different websites, and even on Micro-softs' site too and didn't get much of a definite answer to the problem. -You might get back in after you restart, but the same thing could happen in time.- We were able to get in later Sat. and again on Sunday. Sunday morning we backed up my files to the external hard-drive, and that felt good. DH made recovery disks, and then yesterday morning, I had the same thing happen after signing in, black screen and same error msg. Oh good grief! I then asked him what about my email. Yikes! We hadn't even thought of that the other day when backing up. Somehow, we got in again after restarting, then I deleted some mail in my inbox of email, and DH saved the rest. I headed off to work and he headed off to Office Depot while the computer was doing a scan. He talked with a techie there, and getting Windows 7 would not cure the problem that was wrong with VISTA. By the way, this problem was with VISTA. The techie said that operating system was the worst they ever made because they did it in a hurry because Apple was coming out with their new operating system right around then.

O.D. did have an HP Compaq Presario on sale he noticed while there. He came home. The scan was done, and he restarted the computer. Nothing. He tried starting it in safe mode and still nothing. He went back to OD, and told the guy what happened and both agreed it was definitely dead if it wouldn't even start up in safe mode. The guy asked DH if we had backed up files and DH said yes, which the guy couldn't believe, because so many don't. I am so thankful to God for the nudges to 'back-up' NOW, and that we had that little window of opportunity to get my email. Or at least we hope we did. We won't know until later. This morning after coffee and breakfast, we started unhooking the old, and setting up the new.

This is going to be an all day + project for DH. He had computer problems himself recently and had to get a new computer and has been setting his up and transferring files etc. At least now, we'll both have Windows 7. I've heard of Ubuntu, and think DH might have it on one of his old stand by computers. I think he was sure I wouldn't like it.

One real bummer is my old HP deskjet printer that I've had since 1998, will not work with new computer. Boo Hoo! I've been doing some research here at work, and from what I found, I think I like the HP Officejet Pro 8000 Wireless.

What do you all have for your printers that put out good quality color prints? I enjoy making my own greeting cards using my photos. I'd love to hear your input on printers and what works for you.

L.Conrad lost all of his files recently and posted about it. As soon as I had the first problem the other day, BACK UP NOW came to mind and I'm so glad we did.

My wireless mouse did work, we had to go back to wired internet connection though, but that's fine. We're not sure if we had a CD come with this, DH will check it out later. My old ergonomic keyboard didn't work either, so changes are definitely happening. Hopefully I'll be able to get online and tell you what I think this evening.

It's very windy and gray and more rain is expected, making the plant life happy. It's another quiet day here at work.

Here's a picture of Oleander blooms that my boss has in two pots right outside the front door. They have a delicate sweet scent. They are also poisonous, but are grown everywhere down here. I've seen them with red or white flowers too.





So, BOTTOM LINE --- BACK UP YOUR FILES, immediately if not sooner. :-)








Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

11 comments:

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

I use the free version of syncback to back up my files each night. :-) My hubby is a computer geek. Odd that you can't use wireless internet. Almost every computer comes wi fi able now.
Love the oleander. My sister has the "family oleander." It gets brought inside each winter. It blooms white and has been passed down from my great grandmother.

Southern Lady said...

My daughter recently learned a valuable lesson about backing up files when she lost an important assignment to a computer glitch. I hope your troubles will be over soon. Carla

Lona said...

Oh these computers. When they work they are so nice and when not working, well... Mine crashed a couple of years ago and I had to get all new programs,mouse, keyboard and printer. I have an HP Photosmart all in one with a scanner. I really like it and the pictures printed from it are beautifully done. I upgraded to vista so now you have me worried. LOL!

gld said...

I just cringe when I hear "computer troubles".

I do love Windows 7 but still have some printer issues with my old printer/scanner. I don't do enough color printing to comment so won't.

You are lucky to have a in-house computer man. Mine lives in St. Louis and I hate to bother him.

I haven't backed up often with the new computer but need to do that soon.

Dirt Princess said...

What is it with computers this week!!! I just bought an HPp office Jet 8500 A. Now it isn't the same as you had mentioned....but I can't tell you it prints GREAT photos!!!!! I also bought an external hard drive that day to back up on. I don't operate Vista. One of the programs I use in my line of work WILL not even load with Vista. Im sorry you had to deal with that. When I lost my photos the other day, I sat at my desk and CRIED!!!! It was 6,213 photos!!!! Praise Jesus I was able to recover them

Autumn Belle said...

From your description, it also looks like a computer virus problem? You were very wise to do backup as soon as you sense a big problem coming. I also backup my files, preferably once a month. Precious photos and document files are backup in DVDs and external hard drive - always better to have 2 sources of backups in case one media fails/get broken.

Friends recommend me to use Epson printer for photo printing due to its low price and good quality colour printing. I'm using one. However, I seldom print colour pictures, hence can't help you much. I scan a lot of old photos with it. Whenever I need to print colour photos, I just go to the shopping centre nearby and use the facilities available at the photo printing booth - can make many sizes, even stamps, stickers and calendars.

Remember to backup your blog and blog template too.

I do hope you have a stress free weekend with DH and family.

Susan said...

Hey Flowerlady...Thanks for the reminder to back-up. Sorry to hear about all your computer woes but having a new computer will be nice. We finally got a little bit of rain here today but we seem to be dryer than everyone else. Have a great weekend!

Karen said...

Oh, I'm sorry to hear about all your computer mishaps. I'm very glad you had your precious info saved. I wish you lived closer to us, I have two very techie sons who may have been able to help you out. The laptop I am using is very old (2001) running XP and has been fixed for me several times by my sons. What we normally do is wipe the entire computer and start over fresh. It takes time (and know how--that's when I turn to the guys), but at least they've been able to keep their old mom online.

However, a new computer sounds like fun, too!

Hope you have a restful weekend!

sweetbay said...

So sorry to hear about your computer problems; my computer almost kicked the bucket once but made a recovery. Took me hours to get to the botttom of the problem though, which was a virus that corrupted Windows.

I have an external hard drive and use Mozy, a remote backup service. I need to pay more attention to the notices from Mozy however; the other day I finally read the message and saw that it hadn't backed up successfully for a week!

Amrita said...

I can never fully understand all these computer complications. I lost a bunch of photos on my lap top and could not get them back again.


The oleanders are gorgeous

Anonymous said...

For Mother's Day, Hubby and kids got me a separate hard drive just for the purpose of storing my files. Now I've got to figure out how to work it. :)