Wednesday, February 13, 2013

WINDOWS 8–I CAN’T BELIEVE IT

Where should I start.  Should it be that after two hours on the phone with Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and QVC I got no help at all trying to figure some things, some really big things, I’ve tried to the best of my ability to do on my new computer.  To the best of my ability means reading everything I could find on line, including the tutorials on U-Tube and ones provided with my computer, which, by the way, are very vague, and if videos, go very fast, and information I found from Google.

When I purchased my computer from QVC, one of the perks given which was supposedly to be an $800 value, was free technical support for two years, 24/7.  Hugh.  When I called all of these numbers, no one knew about it and wanted to charge me a fee to talk to a tech person.

When I called my Seagate company (I have a Seagate external hard drive) to ask how to use it with my Windows 8, they basically said to learn how to use Windows 8.

So where does one go?  To the politicians?  I’ve already put in a complaint to QVC corporate division.  A survey came up about my Seagate tech person.  Of course, he got one star.  No help again from that company.  I had called them over a year ago to understand how to use this hard drive, because no instructions anywhere were given.  The people there were so hard to understand and gave me different information from three different people on how to do things, that I had to finally resort to the Microsoft tech who was helping me at the time install my Service Pack 2 on to my Vista.

So where is this all going?  I’ll tell you where.  From my experiences and from other people, less and less people will be buying computers because everything has changed so much and you are supposed to learn everything on your own.  Older people will not go on.  I believe I have a pretty good hold on technology since I’ve been in the business, have taken classes and just the thousands of hours on my computer over a period of 40 years, should prove to have some weight to it.  I’m starting to believe that to be able to continue to sell computers, many, many crap like things have been added on to web sites, computer hardware and software.  The computer companies are trying to sell us a lot of crap we don’t need or even will ever use, so they can advertise these stupid things and make them sound like they are so amazing.

I couldn’t believe Windows 8 does not have a CD/DVD recorder/player program.  There are two out, but you have to purchase them, and then again, learn how to use.  More programs to get frustrated with.  I did successfully download some music on to a DVD or was that with Windows 8 since the music was downloaded while I was on Windows 7?  Who knows?  But what I do know that while I was trying to back up the new Office 13 on a DVD, it sounded like it was recording on my disc drive, but wasn’t.  Six hours of hearing the drive going.  So now, if I have to record or play anything, going back to Windows 7 and the Windows Media Center is, I guess, where I will have go.

I read an article on line that said that Microsoft is getting away from downloading things on discs because every time someone did that, Microsoft got charged a fee and they were eliminating that, slowly but surely, that’s why a CD/DVD recorder/player program is not on Windows 8.  They believe and know that streaming is where everything is directed and soon CDs and DVDs will be a thing of the past, just like VCR tapes.  So flash drives and cards to be inserted into your computer is the way things are headed.

I also learned, when I went to Wal-Mart, trying to figure out a way to get my music into my car without buying a new radio/CD player and fortunately, I ran into a salesperson there who knew something and showed me an ugly gadget you plug into your cigarette lighter and then you stick a card into it and it will play your music through your car speakers.  The gadget only cost $30, but still, ugly and then I would think you would want to take it out for fear of someone stealing it while you were away from your car.  So ugh.

I did, however, find out a little more on how to operate my new Photoshop Elements 11.  Everything there is also turned upside down from my Elements 5.  It basically does the same thing, again, with a lot of crap I’ll never use and some updates that are a good idea.  Today, maybe if I get up the courage, I’ll try transferring my Photoshop Elements 5 photos, along with my photos on my external hard drive (6,000 of them) to my new computer.  I don’t know if I’m biting off more than I can chew, but I don’t know of any other way of doing this.  There is a video on line that tells you how to do this, but it says to make sure that your old stuff you are trying to transfer is in tip top shape.  Is mine in tip top shape?  Who knows?  There were a lot of steps in this instruction video, but maybe, just maybe if I copy these steps down, go very very slowly, I may be able to do it, maybe not just the way I want it to look, but anything is better than nothing and if I really screw it up, well, so be it.

Another thing on Windows 8 they give you is a calendar to remind you of things.  So far, it doesn’t work.  It’s just a monthly calendar and says, “Let’s see if this calendar gives me a reminder through my e-mail.”  Well, it doesn’t.  Again, no instructions, no toolbar, nothing.  Another question for Google, since this isn’t covered anywhere in all of the tutorials they provide, which, again, are very vague and really doesn’t get into when you really want to do something and don’t know how to do it.

I’m not against change, and frankly like learning the new technology to a certain point, but when things, i.e., programs, websites and hardware keep changing, are everyday people really supposed to keep up with it all?  Do we, the everyday people want to keep up with it all or just give up?  And all of this change leads to more outlay of our money trying to keep up because now you have to update to be able to keep up because a lot of software and hardware will not work without purchasing newer, faster equipment.  My old computer (which is only seven years old) which is considered a dinosaur , is better built, but is so slow, I’m surprised it’s doing what I’m asking of it now.  Everything on this hardware still works and even the software, but sooooo slow.

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