Friday, March 05, 2010
Taking the byte out of computer trouble
Emily Paine Carter is columnist So Salem. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Emily Paine Carter
Recent columns from Salem, Glenvar and western Roanoke County
"It will be OK. You will get through this," Alecia Nash assured me.
She sounded like a Lamaze childbirth coach. But this was no labor-and-delivery room; Alecia was soothing me through the painful transition to a new computer.
She has a good "desk-side" manner: just what the doctor ordered. And she makes house calls! (You may recall that previously profiled Salemite "PC Rob" Miles and partner "Mac Rob" Underwood of "Two Robs" do, as well. And yes, other fine computer resources abound in Greater Salem.)
Alecia consoled me over the sudden loss of my trusty old computer. Old? Five years is long in computer-life, she said. Like running one car for 20 years -- a number akin to what's-that-in-dog-years.
Diagnosis: a fried motherboard (there's probably a Latin term for that). No cure. Apply wads of cash to a new one.
And whimper periodically. The trauma! The horror! Argh, technology again: I seem to need rappelling equipment to climb the steep learning-curve that comes with the territory of a new computer.
Hiring Alecia had been a 2009 resolution: Get computer tutoring. (Another column mentioned my "get divorced, alas" resolution. The third -- "find out why smoke detectors keep beeping" -- remains unsolved; I remain jumpy. Poltergeists are suspected.)
"Your [e-mail] address book is still in here somewhere," she continued. "We'll find your old messages; it will just take time.... And then your media-player glitch: hmmm...?" (Were prankish poltergeists at play there, too?)
Mind, Beloved Reader, I hesitated to give you her name. It's like sharing a favorite, critically needed babysitter: Will she have time for all of us? And for her Junior League volunteering?
Having first been a teacher (adult education major), Alecia is good at explaining "stuff." Even to those who sigh, "It's all 'geek' to me."
Some of her tips:
1. If ditching an old computer, do back up your stuff, then remove the old hard drive; then either sledgehammer or drill it! Even if the hard drive is broken! Otherwise it's like putting your bank statements in the trash for someone to find.
2. Don't use the same passwords for your email and banking.
3. Use secure wireless routers. If you don't know, then you are probably NOT secure!
Alecia -- like other trustworthy experts -- is licensed and bonded, using her powers only for good. She speaks both Mac and PC.
Happy computing!
And now, back to rhythmic breathing, chanting "All will be well..."
