Backwards and forwards

Two steps forward, three steps back. Every time I think I’ve made progress familiarising myself with the new computer, I come up against another blasted password.

Passwords, codes….oh for a world where they were not necessary.

Adjusting to the changes in a new computer is tedious enough, but before you can even make the attempt, you have to re-activate all the sites you use every day without second thought.

My passwords are carefully recorded in one of those old fashioned phone number registers, the kind with a lever that slides to the letter you wish to see. I’ve kept it updated, using Wite-out for changes. But you cannot stay ahead of the password game. Or, if you can, I wish someone would tell me how.

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It took some doing to get everything hooked up, but by Saturday afternoon I seemed to have assembled what I needed. There was just one little thing outstanding:

My connection with iCloud. A pop-up message advised that it could not update due to a problem with my apple store link. It needed a password, but which one? I seem to have at least three and the computer itself has a name, inherited from its pre-decessor, though I can’t remember christening it.

After the passwords I offered were rejected, I was then got locked out. Using one of the three, I managed to get back in to attempt a re-set. A new password was accepted, but it didn’t solve the iCloud problem either. I put that problem on hold for a couple of days to get on with more pressing things, but last night I got the pop-up warning again and decided I must take decisive action today.

As part of my deal in purchasing a new computer from Best Buy, I have a Geek Squad account, therefore I can phone for help.

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My problem was too complex for the artificial intelligence voice, so I was placed on hold and soon a very nice lady offered to help, but it involved her taking remote control of my computer. She talked me through the steps which are quite simple, but having gained control she promptly lost the connection. By the third time around, I had the procedure down pat but the link would not hold.

What I must do, she said, was turn off my computer and wait for an hour, then call back, or – I could make an appointment and lug the computer over to Saratoga Springs.

Mumbling and grumbling I attended to two other calls only to get voicemail.

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Time for tea, the Englishman’s cure for everything.

Sipping my beverage, I decided when I turned the computer back on, to try one more time to connect to the Cloud. A recent experience during periodic internet outages had given me pause for thought…

Grant came upstairs one day and was surprised to hear sound coming from my PC. I was listening to music on Youtube. At the end of that piece, I too lost connection. This happened a couple of times and although I have no comprehension of how it works, I surmised that bits of information, such as a Youtube item, already in the pipeline will play out regardless of whether the internet goes down.

How many times are we told to unplug and re-connect a machine? To break the connection, to re-set it. Well, perhaps an old password was stuck in the pipeline and maybe shutting the system down would free it up.

Whatever the mechanics, that is what happened. No further phone calls or appointments necessary. Glory Halleluja. Now I can get back to adjusting to all these irritating changes.

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Change that may be considered improvement is one thing, Often you resist improvements as unnecessary, then quickly adjust. But when change takes you backward, it is annoying!

Most of my life I managed quite well without spellcheck and autocorrect. The latter can indeed be a nuisance. However, there it was, so I got used to it, I got lazy. Let the autocorrect do its thing, With my deteriorating typing skills, I was quite pleased to have the benefit.

What I get now is a faint red dotted line under a misspelled word, like a teacher’s correction on a term paper. I can hear a voice going “Tut!” And there is a time lag, so you don’t necessarily notice, unless you come back to what you’ve written. And have sharp eyesight.

Perhaps it’s a good thing. Time to stop being so lazy and to remember how to spell, though after all these years and all the words I’ve written in my lifetime, I constantly find myself pondering the spelling of perfectly ordinary words.

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So that was one thing and it’s not a big deal, but getting used to a mouse that doesn’t right click is annoying. I don’t want to have to re-learn doing it all on the keyboard! It is cumbersome and I am far from having mastered it. Cutting and pasting, which was so easy, is now a project.

The least they could do is warn you but no, you have to find out the hard way and solve the problem for yourself. (Thank you, Youtube!)

Then there is the matter of the plugs. WHY must they constantly make different ones? How many cables and plugs has the average person collected?

When I travelled, years ago, I had a little set of plugs that got my hairdryer going in any country. In those days I could not have foreseen a time when I would need such a vast array of plugs to manage life in my own sitting room!

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This does not say improvement to me. It says commerce and avarice. We have to stay connected, so we are forced to purchase the updated equipment.

Methinks there is another little corner of hell for the greedy.

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To be fair, it’s not all bad. Tomorrow I’ll disclose something good.

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