A new laptop is no longer a thing of joy

There used to be a time in my life when a new computer was a treat - something exciting.

On our trip to Baltimore, our nine year old laptop decided that it was time to "Camille" on us.  It has been a good laptop - a Toshiba, and it saw me through writing five books, and scanning THOUSANDS of historical images.  But the old gal can't keep up anymore.  It gets confused easily and then seizes up.

Because I am about to teach an LEI course on Genealogy 101, a new laptop was in order because you have to teach these people where to go to get their stuff and nothing is worse than standing in front of 80 tech savvy senior citizens and looking stupid when your computer doesn't execute commands, right?

So we've been looking, and looking, and looking too long.  With time closing in, getting the laptop sooner, rather than later was a big thing.

After all, I have to have time and write the lesson plans and get ready for my close up.

I thought about a Mac Book, but the cost put an end to that.

And there are a ton of "acceptable" machines, I went to Best Buy (ugh) and picked out a Samsung because it was four times the processing speed of the old laptop and a fraction of the cost.

AND because the husband chipped in some cash, it is technically "our" computer, so we were able to buy a full blown copy of Microsoft Office for $10 for the computer.  Sounds great, right?

Wrong.

Turning the machine on from the get go revealed a problem with the operating system.  The drivers for the keyboard were all Fubared up and the EI v9 copy on the computer would NOT open windows in tabs.

So use a new browser, right? 

Well, here's my thinking.  If IE 9 isn't working, what else isn't installed correctly, right?  Better to slay the dragon right off than to find yourself at some point in the arch of ownership hitting your head and screaming curses because something else that vital doesn't work, right?

So I spent the better part of yesterday reading forums, etc. and so on trying to find solutions that would work.  None would.

I called Samsung and got a "dude" who told me that was sorry that I had a problem ("It would be a bummer to turn on a machine and have these issues"), but he couldn't help me because they were same solutions he found at Microsoft.

Immediately, I thought "Fucking hundred dollar call to Microsoft, great!" when Dude said, "But there is good news."

Good news about Microsoft?

EVIDENTLY Microsoft has had so many instances with this problem that they provide FREE support now if THEIR program prevents you from going online.

I know I could have solved all of these problems had a bought a Mac Book in the first place, but when you have a few kopecks, you buy what you can.

HOWEVER, one day I will have a Mac Book, and when that happens, the joy of owning a new computer will return!