Sidetracked Charley

Some days it just seems like everyone is out to get you If you have never done a complete recovery on your computer let me mention right up front you do not want to. I have done one before. One I argued with the computer technical assistance about the need to even do. And in the end it did not need to be done then, but it was. It takes hours to do and then you have to reinstall all your programs and all your backups and remember all your passwords. Luckily it did not have to be done this time. And I dodged the bullet. As I waited for the recovery discs HP support was sending I was quaking in my boots. I was even ready to come out fighting to avoid the dreaded recovery. And it was a near miss. I read the directions carefully twice, inserted disc one of the set they sent and followed the directions to step 5. The computer refused to comply with its own suicide and did not go to step 6. I called the upper level tech support number HP gave me when I asked for a conversation about...

  In the muddle over computer issues I have not said much about my Vizio HDTV.  Maybe that is because the moment I took my saved up money to purchase it the computer failed and I began to regret the money spent. I do not use credit cards so I save for what I want. I had wanted the flat screen TV for more than a year as I put away cash for the eventual purchase. Everything had gotten in the way - like car repairs. With at last money in hand, product research completed, and friend along to keep me from going bonkers over the unconsidered options I got the flat screen of my dreams. Okay, due to prices I went 5" bigger (glad I did) and when my friend mentioned the HTML cable I also jumped in an got a new Samsung Blu Ray/DVD player capable of streaming Netflix video. That was a couple hundred I had not planned to spend. But it seemed to make sense until the computer failed. The failure of the computer had far reaching ramifications - beyond budget. The whole fight with HP over th...