Back Online

Had I begun my writing career before the advent of computers, I would've written approximately two pages before quitting. Way back when, I bought one of those hardbound journals, which I still have, and started writing my childhood memories--longhand. Of the 100 blank pages or so, about 90 of them are still blank. 

The one post I composed on my phone a few days ago was pretty much torture. This is NOT how I type on my phone:

THIS is how I type on my phone:

...only not that fast. Thank goodness for autofill.

When I was forced to purchase a new PC, I asked Google for mid-range $ recommendations. Google must love Dell, because it was quick to point me to a particular Dell model. I actually am fond of Dell, too. My now defunct Dell PC lasted me many years. But mid-range doesn't mean what it used to. I neglected to research whether that particular new model had speakers. What PC doesn't have speakers? Found one! I don't care that it doesn't have a camera; I didn't even want a camera. I've got enough tech spying on me already. But the absence of speakers is a problem, particularly since my husband and I are getting back into creating music. 

Another huge issue: my perfectly good monitor has an (apparently) outdated connector.

The new PC does not offer that kind of port. I confused myself mightily researching adapters, which I knew would be a fiasco anyway until my husband suggested we go to Best Buy and pick up a new monitor. Yay, more expense. It's not that I dislike the new one I picked out. It's larger and it's curved, so I feel fancy, but putting everything together took a year off my life.

Then there's Windows 11...

Yes, I had Windows 10, which served me just fine. I knew how to find everything I needed, although saving a doc or a photo resulted in a scavenger hunt when trying to retrieve it. Is it in the C drive? OneDrive? Downloads? Or did Microsoft delete it all together? Trying to find it was "exciting". But Microsoft stopped servicing Windows 10, which meant I stopped getting updates, and that might have been what finally killed my old PC. Diabolical, Microsoft!

If anyone feels that Windows 11 is an upgrade, please explain that to me...in detail. 

From what I can gather, all Gates & Co did was hide essential tasks, such as the power button. I'm in the habit of shutting down and restarting at the end of the day, in order to get those essential updates installed, but I had to rely on Google to tell me how to do that. (Go ahead; try to figure it out for yourself.)

In setting up my PC, Microsoft was quick to suggest many cosmetic features I could add. Except I'm more interested in whether something works than in how it looks. And its Edge browser does not import bookmarks, so I lost them all. On the other hand, Firefox kept all my bookmarks intact. (I need my bookmarks!) Luckily, Edge is my backup browser, but it's but one more stupid-ass failure on Microsoft's part. 

Then there was the hassle of downloading a bunch of programs that I had on my old PC and still needed. As well as re-setting up my printer. And when I tried signing into my email accounts, I was told that my passwords were incorrect and that I needed a special code to retrieve them...an email code (sure, that would work) or a texted code. Neither of those resulted in receiving the special code, so I just kept trying my passwords over and over 'til both Yahoo and GMail surrendered and let me in. Microsoft is Johnny-on-the-spot with Outlook, though. Outlook is an account I only use in emergencies, because it's awful. 

As for the speaker issue, I still haven't explored whether my old purchased speakers have the proper connectors. (Wanna take a bet?) I'm just too tired to deal with that right now.

Oh, and computer manufacturers no longer install disk drives on their PC's. So, let's count...no speakers, no camera, no disk drive. Again, since we'll be doing music again, I'll need the ability to rip and burn tracks. Thus, I had to buy an external disk drive. (Also not yet set up, because...you know).

Anyway, I'm back. Did I miss anything?