Re: I Finally Found Myself a Christmas Present (Better Late Than Never)


<emily2@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:sds5m4505mrtk55cmol6q2pdnemdi3fjvg@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:37:20 -0800, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:50:11 -0500, emily2@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:


I have stayed miles away from my Registry, confident that if I ever
mucked around in it, I'd screw something up terminally. What bothers
me are all those damned files that mean nothing to me. For example,
there's a folder on my C drive called "Brownie". It contains thirteen
files, none of them anything I've created, the dates on the files
range from 1999 to 2004. I have no idea where this came from or what
the hell it is and, more importantly, what might cease to work if I
deleted it. And it's just one of many.

I downloaded and ran a Registry cleaner and it wiped out my ability
to access the Add and Remove Programs tab in the Control Panel. I
managed to identify it had deleted an important system file. Luckily
it occurred to me to use System Restore and I found a restore point
prior to the day I used that Registry Cleaner. It worked.

But I'll never run any registry cleaner again. Perhaps it is safe to
do so if you set a Restore point first....but seems it is still taking
a big chance of screwing something up?

I've used, or tried to use, Restore a couple of times and it's never
worked. I must be doing it wrong. ;-]

You know, I was thinking that we old folks who have learned to use
computers at least reasonably well are really to be commended
considering the challenges we are faced with figuring out Microsoft
operating systems.

I never began to understand how computers worked, but at a point about
two decades ago, I felt reasonably competent with programs. Whenever
I got a new one, I spent as much time as needed exploring every choice
on the menu bar. Then it seemed there was this big explosion of
knowledge that I didn't keep up with, and now when I get into anything
very technical, it might as well be written in Greek.

I have one dear friend who still communicates by the written word, and
longhand at that. I have been trying for years to drag her into the
modern world by telling her how user-friendly all these things are
now, and as I was getting acquainted with Vista on the laptop, I tried
to imagine what it would be like for her to be facing it. I don't
think she knows anyone nearby who could help her. But I can't imagine
life without a computer.


I can't either. I started using a computer back in 1980 doing payroll and accounts recievable for an association of growers, who had a very complicated payroll system. I used a huge old IBM system 34 for that. It was as big as a large refrigerator. I thought it was an interesting machine and very handy for accounting purposes, but for years I never realized that it had any other value than that.

As a bookkeeper I felt I needed to have my own, and in the early '80's when the PC's came out, I bought one. I remember when I had no idea what to do with it, and would sit and play solitaire just so my husband wouldn't call me an idiot for having it. Then on one job I really needed to learn how to use it, and my boss paid a local computer shop to teach me how to use a couple of programs. The other girl in the office wanted nothing to do with it, but I was overjoyed at the opportunity.

The first thing I learned how to do was use Nutshell, which was a data base manager that ran on ms/dos, in which you could make programs that would do just about anything you wanted in the form of lists, and spreadsheets, and get customized reports based on your own plans. I used that program to do so many applications for so many years!

All that was pre-windows. At that time, I never even considered that the computer had any other applications than for accounting. I was very proficient with ms/dos, but Windows scared me silly. I finally learned how to use that too, and the rest is history. It has become the absolute best communication tool, and the worst time waster in the world!

I stay in touch with my kids, my extended family, exchange and manage photos, music, email friends, and so much more. In fact we have three computers in this house, and all of them are necessary. His, Hers, and the Spare. The spare came in very handy a couple of months ago when the power supply on my computer conked out. It was a maddening problem no one seemed able to solve. Finally the second computer shop I brought it to, fixed it. So the spare is an essential piece of equipment, because you just never know...... That is how essential these gadgets have become in our lives!

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Best Regards,
Evelyn

Rest in a sky-like mind.
Sit like a mountain floating on the earth.
Breathe like the wind circling the world


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