Tuesday, May 31, 2011

It's upgrade time

I'm steeling myself for an upcoming internet blackout. My husband has ordered parts to upgrade his hot-rod desktop computer, and in about a week when they arrive, he will dismantle the beast and put in all the new parts.

And then nothing will work.

Please understand, this is NOT a slam against my husband. He knows more about computers than I will ever imagine I could, and he's a retired electrical engineer who's been messing with these boxes since - well, since they've existed. He builds his own computers. But when you upgrade, it's ALWAYS SOMETHING.

We've been through this before. It never goes as smoothly as you think it should and he always has to cope with irritating unexplained problems. He always solves them, but it's a hassle. Please don't ask me the details - I don't ask, and I don't want to know. Around the mid-90's, I gave up my complimentary subscription of InfoWeek at work and never again tried to keep up with the fast moving computer industry. If anything goes wrong with the laptop, I walk into his office and say "Oh, honey?"

He's also moving his desktop to Windows 7, so that adds a little extra fillip of mystery to the process. He told me I should also upgrade my Vista platform so all three computers would be on the same operating system, but I'm frankly terrified to try that. Will everything I run work on the new Windows version? Who knows?

I even cringe when I download updates. I'm a strong proponent of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In fact, don't even touch it.

2 comments:

Kathryn said...

I was very wary of the Windows 7, but must admit I am converted and now really like it. Hope all goes well with the upgrade. I sympathise. It's frustrating when you've got everything how you like it and then need to start again, especially with the worry that not all the software will talk to each other. Good luck!

Marla said...
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