The trouble with technology

I finally bought a new computer a couple of weeks ago. I’d got to the point where it was either the old computer, or my sanity that was going out the window. It was taking me about 20 minutes to log on, (I know a computer shouldn’t need to ‘warm up’ but mine did!) and at least 5 minutes to open an email attachment – as I get a lot of work email attachments, you can tell how much time I was wasting.

So, I’d been thinking about this for a while, but buying a computer is a very scary prospect. Mainly, I think, because I was sold a heap of trash when I bought my first one*and I really know nothing about how they work, what size RAM, cache, hard drive, whatever… I need (really, it’s a whole other language).

Having walked in to PC World a few times, (and walked out again as I was too scared to talk to anyone), and canvassed opinion from friends, and colleagues, I finally decided to go for a laptop, mainly because I could then go ‘WiFi’ and work around the house. Having decided that, and about how much I wanted to spend, I then started to look at the options.

I checked out all the usual stores (is it wrong to reject Comet because I didn’t like their yellow shirts?), and ended up back in PC world, where they seemed to have the best selection. Having circled round the laptops for quite a while, waiting for someone to take pity on me and ask if I wanted some help, I finally plucked up courage to speak to one of the assistants (how come they’re all boys who look about 12?).

I ended up with a sony vaio**, which is quite pretty. I was also going to buy a wireless router, but was informed that the only one compatible with AOL was £80! So it was clearly time to get rid of AOL*** and find a new broadband provider. Which meant I was only able to link up to the internet yesterday, as my new hub was finally delivered.

I was faced with this box with various wires and leads in it, to try and work out what I should do. I got it all connected up, and then tried to set up the WiFi. Hmmmm, it found a router ok, but it wasn’t one that arrived in my stuff. I tried again. Still no luck.

So, at the moment, I’m connected, but not WiFi. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy!

*and no, I don’t mean the one I’ve been using, I mean the one before that, which really was the biggest heap of rubbish, and never worked properly – in fact, I never even managed to connect it to the internet!

**further rant, why oh why do they only give you a ‘quick start guide’ on paper, and you have to look everything else up on the computer – when I’m trying to work out how to do something, I like to have a book of instructions to hand.

***which again, I’ve never liked, but once you’ve got it on your computer, it’s impossible to get rid of it.