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Thursday, June 12, 2014

Ships Not Passing In The Night

Too often as we travel, we have other wonderful RV friends we've met that are nearby, and yet due to our traveling schedules, we just miss them.  Sort of like ships passing in the night.

Thankfully, because of blogging, we still are able to keep in touch, but it's not quite the same as enjoying their company face-to-face.


We got lucky while we're here in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Bill and Nancy, fellow full time RVers and great friends of ours happened to be at nearby Huntington Beach State Park.  It had been about two years since we saw them last, so we jumped at the chance to get together with them, although the time was way too short.

We had a great time and shared all that has been going on with each other's travels and lives.  We often travel in the same geographic area, so hopefully we'll see each other more often in the future.

On the computer front, still trying to make progress.  I've spent several hours on the phone with Carbonite tech reps (they're in Maine, but for some reason speak English with a funny accent) trying to get my laptop back to proper working condition.  I still can't get Live Writer, Vipre and System Mechanic to load back on and I've had a problem which has baffled the tech reps.  My document files that have ".doc" after them have acquired and additional end on them, now they end in ".doc.wps".   I can't open them without buying some software for about $30 to translate the files back to the original.  I'm hoping to find a work around to save that $30.

I had to stop the full recovery of all my files for the time being, too.  I have a Millenicom MiFi that gives me 20 GB/month of data and I was contacted by them, informing me I had burned through 31.5GBs!   I had to buy an additional 20 GB for another $89.99 for a monthly total of 40 GB, so I now have just 8.5 GB to last me the month of June.  If I exceed 40 GB, I'll be shut off Internet access until 1 July.  Oops!

This computer fiasco has been getting expensive.  $188 for the screen repair, then $75 for the reload of Windows 7 after the computer "tech" (and I use that term loosely) wiped my hard drive when the computer would not start after the screen was replaced.  Now the additional $89.99 for extra data has made this whole episode look like I should have junked the laptop and bought a new one in the first place.

I tried to reload Vipre, my anti-virus program with no success.  I contacted their service rep phone number and got some guy in India who claimed that I needed to redo the registry on my computer and it would cost only $199.  I passed on that, hopefully I can get my $14.95/year System Mechanic loaded back on to do that registry fix (if it's needed at all).

Maybe I'll be able to get this all repaired this next week, I'll have my 10 year old, computer savvy grandson, Andrew with me on the trip to Disney World. I'd be smart to let him handle it.

I think I'd better stick to fixing diesel engines, something that I can actually understand...  ;c)

(Posted from Marti's laptop)

Thanks for visiting and feel fee to leave a comment.

12 comments:

  1. Well that computer stuff is a real pain in the neck. Good luck!

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  2. We really enjoyed our TOO SHORT visit, but hey, we'll take what we can get;o)) Just so much fun to get together and catch up a bit!!

    ComPuters...can't live with them and can't live without them!! Hope you find the fix without spending too much more money:o(

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  3. Good luck with your laptop. It's amazing that we consider our computers a "necessity" now...

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  4. Not sure I'd ever want to back up my whole computer online. That's way too much uploading and downloading. This would definitely be the time to be connected to someone else's fast DSL line.

    You just never know who you're going to run into on the road.. Sometimes hiding might be the best solution.

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  5. Interesting experience with Carbonite backup. It sure doesn't sound like the simple, fast solution they advertise.

    You might want to think about scrapping that Vipre anti-virus program and downloading the free Microsoft Security Essentialsanti-virus. I've used it for years and it's top notch excellent - low resource use and quiet!!

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  6. You sure have a good attitude about all this mess that IMO was the fault of the tech who messed up your hard drive in replacing your screen. I'd be furious and after somebody. On the other hand, what a GREAT picture of Nancy and Bill. But you didn't go out to eat? Or even have ice cream?

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  7. It's about time for us to get a new laptop your experience with trying to fix an existing one might tip the scales

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  8. Nice you were able to get together with Bill & Nancy. Hope that computer doesn't cost too much more! You are at the point of no return :(

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  9. I got a free trial of Carbonite and found my free wifi here was too slow. It was taking days to download all my data and it caused a problem if there was an interruption. Sorry, you're having so much trouble with your laptop.

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  10. Ugh! Hate computer problems. You have my sympathy. Maybe Andrew will be a good luck charm :)

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  11. Technology is great ... when it works! Sorry to hear that you continue to have problems.

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  12. Nice picture of Bill and Nancy. Good luck with your ongoing computer problems.

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