Wow...what a week....and it's just started!!!

Hubby and I were enjoying a Sunday morning together.

He surprised me by telling me we would be going into town later that day to pick out a new computer. We had talked about getting a new computer for quite awhile, as mine was on it's last legs....about 9 years old.....but it was still hanging on so there wasn't a huge rush.  But, lately, it's been shutting off all by itself (at least I HOPE it was all by itself....eeeerie to think about...LOL) and right in the middle of doing stuff.  And, it was taking so much time to load up and it would stall/freeze in the middle of things and then I would have to reboot.   Sigh.

My husband's (my former computer) is also on it's last legs...being probably 12 years old.  But, strange as it may seem...his is actually in better shape then mine, (and it doesn't ROAR like a jet when you have it on).

We have been following Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace for about 9 months and had saved up for a new computer and now was the time!!  Oh the 'freedom' with saving up for what you want instead of "CHARGE IT" and worrying about it later.  More on that later, too.

So, later on that day, we decided to head into town and look at our options.  We had basically figured out what I needed for me to do all the things I normally do on my computer like blogging, e-mailing, Facebook, using Excel and Powerpoint, and an assortment of other things.

We got to the store and of course, they didn't have the 'same' computer I had picked out online....so we had to check out what they did have and go from there.  In the end, we ended up with a less expensive computer then we had chosen online with the same amount of features that I felt I needed and the same amount of space on the hard drive and more RAM.....(that's about as much computer speak as I know).  We had looked at an HP but ended up with a DELL.  My older computer was a Gateway and I hated it from day one....although the earlier Gateway's I had liked.

Here is what I ended up with:

(then, I realized if I had bought it off of the Dell website, I could have gotten the front of it in PURPLE).  Probably best I didn't know that beforehand...LOL

One thing we did learn, though, is that we had looked at Microsoft Outlook 2010 online and it was one price 'online'.  When we went to the store, it was $50 higher.  Thankfully, the associate went online and 'ordered it' for us.....and then picked it and 20 minutes later, we were able to get it for the sale price.  Remember that if you see something online that you want....buy it online and have them 'pick it' and hold it at the store for you.  Most likely, they can have it ready within a few hours or the next day.   It was so funny, cause he took it right off the shelf....but in order for us to get the online price....he had to 'pick it' and 'hold' it for us to come in to get it (although we were right there).  Hey....for $50, I can go get lunch at their McDonald's and go back in 20-30 minutes ;-)

We went home, installed it and away I went.  Gosh...that was EASY!!!  NEVER have set up a computer without some sort of headache that went along with it.   :-)

THEN......................................................

Fast forward to the next day.  Well, since I had documents/photos and other things to get off my old computer....I wasn't online much yesterday.   It wasn't until evening that I noticed that although I was getting e-mail, I wasn't able to send any.

So, we commenced to troubleshoot....and THREE hours later....after I was about ready to pull my hair out....hubby went to my old computer and figured out that I had my Smtp configured wrong.  I was checking HIS computer....figuring it was the same as mine.....NOT.....???

So.....we fixed that.......and then, later, got around to installing the Router....and all of a sudden, DH wasn't able to get anything on HIS computer.  SIGH!!! (he was going off our old router...and of course I was directly connected to the modem....so all was good....till we decided to install the Router onto my computer)

I asked him....is this router even set up to work with Windows 7?  He hadn't thought of that....so he went and got the router box....and sure enough...it wasn't.  So, that's why his computer quit working.

So, now we have to get a new Router so that we can both work on our computer. 

AND, to top it all off....computer geek that I am NOT....I had spent ALL DAY, yesterday, (that's why I wasn't e-mailing or doing anything else online) transferring info off my old computer onto 24 disks, only to realize, last night, that the info hadn't copied over to the disks, even tho it said it did.

There IS an easier way to transfer information from one computer to another.  I know, I know....there is.....but I didn't have an external doo hickey..so the disks were my only option at the time.  They are the wrong type disks, evidently. 

I am not a computer geek.....by any stretch of the imagination.

So, to sum it all up....my computer is now functional.....DH's is not internet functional till we get a router.

Now, I am in 'learning mode' once again.  I went from Windows XP with Microsoft Office 2003 to Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010.  A huge step!!

Hopefully, with a few tutorials under my belt and a lot of practice....I'll get it figured out.


Have a great day!!!
Char