Another Month
It has been a really busy month here in the cave, in the last 2 weeks we have had 14 customers scammed by people who had a call from Microsoft, trying to tell them that their computers were infected. They certainly were after the call. Microsoft charge a lot of money to call you, if you have not booked a call then this is a scam, trying to steal both your money and your passwords!
This year has also been a first. We repair a lot of computers each and every week. 99.99% of the time when we take them back everything works just fine. In the last week we have taken back computers, installed them only to find that they have failed, it happened to me again this morning.
Each time we have brought them back they have fired up first time. Today this failed. An hour later the poor wee beastie woke up and worked fine. It is the first time in over 32 years I have ever seen this happen. The cold actually stopping computers working.
The reality of this is that mum will have to move out to the summer house while we keep the computers warm. I can hear the complaints now, but if she did her paper round every day without complaint then there would be no problem!
It is interesting to see how computers can become an issue when they ask to be updated, need to restart, have weird and wonderful messages that flag up saying “I need to update”. To ignore these cries for help is a mistake. If you can remember that 'your computer is your friend, I love my computer', this will help.
All your little box of technology wants to do is to help show you just what it is that you want to see. If you had a cat or dog you would feed it, walk it, give it some love. All your computer wants you to do is occasionally update it, (windows, Java, QuickTime, and Adobe). It wants you to debug it, check for viruses and malware, do an error check on the hard drive and defrag it.
It may come as a shock but all of this needs to be done each and every week. For your own sake, as in photos, music, emails and email addresses, you may well want to back these up each and every week, just in case your poor wee computer has a bit of a problem and decided to give up on life as we know it.
Computers have an average age of between 3 and 5 years, some last longer. External hard drives should be changed every couple of years. Always have important photos, emails, address books and documents backed up on at least 3 devices. Better to be safe than crying.
Your computer is your fried, you love your computer. Say this to yourself often enough and all the care and love you spend on your poodle or cat will become second nature. It sits there day in and day out, come winter, frost, rain or shine. All it wants to do is take and show you what it is that you need and want to see.
So take a deep breath, again 'My computer is my friend, I love my computer'.
On the plus side it is impossible to swear while you are chanting!