<p>This is about computers and wireless networks. So, bail now, if that doesn’t interest you.</p>
<p>I won’t bore you with the details; believe me, they are very boring. But the long story short is: Have wireless router. My PC was working fine, connecting to the internet as appropriate. Son’s laptop couldn’t connect. I paid our friendly neighborhood geek kid to come and re-jigger the settings so son’s laptop connected – but, of course, not my PC anymore. The instructions we were given were to buy a wireless card for my PC, install it, and then we’d both be connected.</p>
<p>Yeah. Right.</p>
<p>Three weeks later, and after three calls to the wireless router support people, and after a collective one and a half hours on the phone, we are now both on the internet at the same time. I’d say Hooray, but I’m just so annoyed at technology that instead I’m spitting. </p>
<p>I hate it whenever something computer-y doesn’t work right, and that seems to happen whenever I try to change or upgrade. Do other people have these issues with technology, or is it just me?</p>
<p>(You all know the right answer, People. Don’t disappoint me!!)</p>
<p>Grrrrr. Just venting, I guess.</p>
<p><a href=“Damn.%20I%20see%20I%20made%20a%20typo%20in%20the%20headline,%20and%20there’s%20no%20way%20to%20edit%20that.%20Damn.”>i</a>* Am I cranky today, or what?</p>
<p>I remember when we got wireless set up in my house years ago. The cable company sent out a technician and said that everything was set up fine…until I asked him why my computer was still plugged into the router box.</p>
<p>He said he couldn’t figure out how to make that computer wireless. I had to keep it plugged into the ethernet cable the whole time I had that computer. </p>
<p>I tend to be an early adopter of new technology and have a pretty good record of getting stuff set up on my own. Yet, I was perplexed recently when my dad was given a surround sound system, which I couldn’t get working perfectly. I guess half a room of surround sound is better then what it was, but sheesh. Shouldn’t be that hard.</p>
<p>I even read the directions in the instruction manual, and everything! ;)</p>
<p>I have worked in the tech industry my whole career, and I HATE to upgrade. Anything. Hardware, software, intenet provider, whatever. I avoid it like the plague. I am the last one, kicking and screaming, moving forward only when support is being dropped or the old device totally ceases to work. I don’t have time for it… So it isn’t just ordinary people, lots of us tech types feel the same way!</p>
<p>I found out if I update to Snow Leopard for mac, my scanner won’t work.</p>
<p>Not sure if there are any of things that will suddenly not work, so I am not upgrading until they come out with a patch. (Or maybe I wait until I HAVE to upgrade or the system self-destructs!)</p>
<p>Amen to that, intparent. Upgrades never seem to be worth it, to me!</p>
<p>I haven’t updated to Snow leopard- my older daughter hasn’t even updated to Tiger ( which she will have to do- as she is getting an ipod touch for xmas)</p>
<p>What I don’t like are voice recognition things on the phone, cause half the time, they don’t understand me & I live in SEATTLE we don’t have accents!</p>
<p>With voice recognition, it gets very upset if you cough or clear your throat halfway through. Then the officious lady voice says, “I don’t understand,” and I feel like my second grade teacher, Miss Wilcox, is yelling at me again.</p>
<p>The worst part is when something supposedly unrelated stops working when you upgrade. NEVER believe a vendor or tech person who says an upgrade will be “transparent”.</p>
<p>We had a similar problem and were without internet for days. In one call to ATT…to a fellow in India who had no idea what was wrong…the last thing he said to my husband was “You will be receiving an email survey about this service call.” DUH…hello!!! The problem was we could NOT get online…now how did he think we were going to get his stinking survey?</p>
<p>I have a reverse problem. I live with a house full of techno geeks (they are all home now- DS’s are playing HALO on Xbox - interactive, or something, and DH is listening to a podcast). They love to tweak and play with and upgrade stuff. Leave my old dumb stuff alone!! , b/c this old dumb lady doesn’t know the new stuff. I was perfectly content with my old version of Microsoft Word. Now I have to learn Word 7 and its FRUSTRATING. Seems to me whenever they play with the system or the computers I have MORE problems, not less. I hate being comparatively ignorant in this area. They used to flip a coin-- and whoever <em>lost</em> had to help me with my computer problems. They joked about this at dinner tonight. Some things never change…</p>
<p>D23 is a “Genius” for Apple. Yes, that is her job title. Makes me smile every time. Boyfriend runs the Apple support for a major university. University was set to upgrade one of their systems (not Apple) but the tests weren’t going well so they decided to delay implementation until after finals. Someone forgot to “unschedule” the implementation and the Gradebook and emails systems crashed at finals time. It was ugly.</p>
<p>Every time I ask the Genius to help me with something on my computer, she says she doesn’t “do that”. It took me awhile to figure out that it’s just me she doesn’t want to help. Apparently I ask too many questions.</p>
<p>PS I have a crush on one of the geniuses at our apple store. Okay, all of them. They are magnificent. They make me happy when they know what is “wrong” on the spot!</p>
<p>My D is the genius with the mohawk and the wild makeup. It’s amazing how she can fix everything but me. She seems to have infinite patience and charm for strangers but not for her mother. I guess that’s normal for that age.</p>
<p>This is why I absolutely hate to buy new equipment. You cannot simply move everything to the new one. Data can be moved but programs have to be reloaded and half the time it has been so long I can’t find the disks. That is IF it would work on the new one anyhow. That and redoing all the settings is just too frustrating. I hang on to the old one until it is impossible to use it with new requirements.</p>
<p>I wonder if you had the same issue that I ran into. (Oh, and it is either technology or senility, but if I have a technical problem, and I study it, and solve it, a few weeks later I can’t remember what the solution was)… let’s see… I had an unsecured network, and I password protected one computer, but the other computer did not have a compatible wireless thingie so I couldn’t use a password on both computers at the same time! I had to upgrade the wireless thingie so that all 3 computers on the network could use the network pw.</p>
<p>My H and kids have the nerve to expect ME to sort out the wireless and network stuff. What GOOD are they?( “they” refers to kids and husbands, NOT wireless networks…)</p>
<p>I have been taught the first steps to computer diagnostics. When there is a problem: Turn it off, wait a moment, and turn it back on. Alternative solution: Unplug it, and plug it back in , and check for any loose connections (obviously doesn’t work for wireless systems/laptops/wireless keyboards, etc). If those don’t work I am stumped.</p>