‘I survived the trauma of dealing with new technology around the home’

My old computer, which has served me well for almost 10 years, had at last shown very noticeable signs of aging. Opening a file, which used to take about 5 seconds, now seems to take something more like 5 minutes; the screen would freeze several times a day, meaning I have to go through the ritual of starting everything up again, and I sometimes clicked on one item to open it, only to be presented with something completely different. Definitely not the sort of service required from your normal, efficient computer!

Therefore, the decision was been made to get a new one! Fortunately, here in Yarram we are served by an exceptionally fine computer man named Ross, a man who is especially kind to pensioners and the like, helping them get set up, charging reasonable prices for both service and components and having a friendly chat while he’s with a person as well. The thing is, we have here a man who is a great expert at unravelling the mysteries of the computer, while I come under the heading of ‘dunderhead’, which means that from his pressing of the first button, I am lost!

The thing is, I am a person who likes to be in control of my life, and to have a great bloke like Ross coming here fills me with a weird sort of terror, because I start thinking of all the things that I suppose need to be done to complete the changeover. Things like ‘how do I get my diary transferred on to the new equipment’, or what will happen to my list of contacts, used for emails and all sorts of other purposes?’ Another thing writing this blog made me think of and worry about, how did I set up my first email address? It was all those years ago, will I do it the same now? Will the new computer have Wi-Fi contact with my printer? Will I have to contact all the suppliers of the numerous pieces of software I have bought over the years, and will the companies who sold them to me still exist? Will the format of the stuff I have written or created still be readable by the Windows 10 he says my new equipment will be loaded with, instead of the Windows 7 I’ve been using?

It’s all very nerve-wracking for an old bloke like me, who had the electronic skills of a caveman until I bought my first computer. I’m much better now of course, after a dozen or more years of working with these babies. But that really doesn’t help a lot, when you have about 60 strands of variously coloured wires, each with a different shaped plug on the end, all of which need to be pushed into variously shaped holes in the back of the box. That’s another thing too, while I’m mentioning it; why do all those complicated wires have to be plugged in at the back of the machine, where they are almost impossible to get to — it would be so much easier if they were spread out on the front, or even one side, of the machine. All these plugs, etc., are so damned small too, so they fall out of old fingers like mine at the drop of a hat, only to get irretrievably lost amongst all the other small stuff hanging about there!

You will appreciate that I waited in a state of both fear and anticipation for Ross to arrive, to set my mind at rest, clear up all my problems and get me working again on this wonderful, awful machine, producing gobbledegook like this!

How would you rate your technology skills? Have you found upgrading a mobile phone, computer, tablet etc. to be challenging?

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