Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Computers...A Love/Hate Relationship


Yesterday wasn't a good day. For a week or two, I have been having some problems with Internet Explorer shutting down frequently and then restarting. Over the past few days I have done all the "normal" things I do when I have a computer issue. I ran my virus scan, checked for malware, upgraded from IE 8 to 9 and back to 8 again, checked the disk, defragmented the hard drive, tried several restore points and so on. You get the picture. I googled repeatedly looking for answers and as it was getting worse, I attempted a recovery suggested by someone I googled. Big mistake. Whatever I did...made things worse.

After my "repair" I started getting messages. The first sign of a real problem came when my computer didn't recognize my iPhone and I couldn't fix that. Shortly after that a message popped up that my virus protection was turned off, but I couldn't turn it back on. When I tried to Google to see what might be going wrong...I discovered that IE would no longer open. It was broken/fried/gone. My computer showed that it was still there, it even showed it was running-but it wouldn't open. Long story short, I started this process at about 10:00 a.m. yesterday and I finally went to bed at 2:00 a.m. this morning. I did learn a few things during the process that I thought I would share with you.

1. It was very obvious that my issue was with Internet Explorer, not the computer. I was extremely lucky that I had a secondary browser on my computer so that I could still research things to try. I happened to have Google Chrome and it was still working.

2. I was also lucky that I had a couple of USB Flash Drives at home and I was able to remove all my pictures and my taxes etc. from the computer before I took the last drastic step.

3. It was a serious mistake to make a repair without writing down what I'd done. The suggested repair had me looking up a file, clicking a couple of places and shutting a few things off. I think that I created more of a problem than I had originally and the steps were too complicated for me to remember how to reverse them. I should have taken notes as I did it-lesson learned.

4. I ended up taking my computer back to factory settings. In other words, it is the same as when it came out of the box. I have a Satellite L675 laptop and I really didn't want to have to replace it. Factory setting is a very drastic step, but it also cleans up all the junk we accumulate on the computer. It took a long time and several steps. I had to go online to find out how to do it as they no longer send a recover disk with a computer. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming.

5. So far, I have only found that my daughter's tax information didn't save to the flash drive  for some reason. I lost all of my favorites and the items in my favorites bar as well as the Swagbucks Toolbar. I also lost all of my songs on iTunes (I know-I should have been saving to The Cloud). That isn't a big deal as the songs are still on my phone. As of yet I haven't found a way to move them from the phone back to the computer and that isn't the end of the world.

So-my reminder today to each of you is to:

1) Backup your files and photos to a flash drive (don't just plan on it like I did).

2. Add a second browser, even if you don't use it.

3. If you make changes to your computer-write them down so you can reverse them later.

4. If you have iTunes/iPhone/iPod-use The Cloud if you are going to be upset losing your music.  

I am still a bit stressed, exhausted and very hopeful that I won't still have issues.
My tablescape for this week, isn't happening.
I also don't have to find a way to work a new computer into the budget!
I call that success!

13 comments:

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Wow! I would not have known how to do some of the things you did - you are more computer savvy than I am. Glad you got it worked out.
I have made the mistake of not making notes myself - more than once.

Unknown said...

Oh, mercy! Happy that all worked out for you. I love what one can do with a computer, but I vehemently dislike having issues with them as I am then lost.

Have a wonderful day ~
TTFN ~
Marydon

Flo @ Butterfly Quilting said...

good advice!!
my hard drive crashed awhile back....not fun!!
And I agree..I hate changing things because something always stops working then!! Gotta love computers!
hope you are back in action now :)

Mosaic Magpie said...

Computers....I know just enough to get in trouble. I had all of USB ports break on my laptop. Yes the computer still works but no way to do a backup anymore. To fix the USB's would have been more costly than buying a new laptop!!! Does that make sense??
Thank you for the good advice!

Barbara F. said...

What an ordeal. I am impressed by all the steps you did on your own. I would have given up. Happy it was resolved. xo

Patrice said...

That really sucks...I have so many photos and digital scrapbook stuff, that I have a separate hard drive for a backup. I learned the hard way a few years ago, so I feel your pain!!!

Marigene said...

I had problems that I had no idea how to fix, a few days before Christmas...the computer guy came to the house, was here for 2+ hours and only charged me $20 to fix it. It pays to live in the middle of nowhere! Hope everything gets recovered for you.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Oh oh..I know what a headache you had as something very similar happened to me a few years ago. I think IE bogs down after awhile and just doesn't function well. Since that experience I always have an external hard drive backing everything up and I have Picasa save my photos in their cloud (I pay for extra storage space)
Hope you computer will run well again now that you are back to factory settings!

dee dee said...

Sue,
so sorry about your long and headache filled night. Thanks for updating us on how to handle this situation if it were to happen to us!
Dee Dee

Entertaining Women said...

Glad that you recovered your computer and most of your data. When you sync your iPhone to your computer, won't the sync move your songs to you iTunes Library. I think that you can ask it to that, if it doesn't do it automatically. Looking forward to your tables cape next week. Cherry Kay

Kathleen said...

I am very impressed, Sue! I wouldn't know what to do!
I have spent hours and hours on the phone with Dell. I was in tears by the end, they messed everything up!
She did that too, brought the computer back to new but then didn't put everything back like she said she would.
Your Valentine table is very pretty!

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

Wow,Sue! I would have been at a total loss as to know even where to start!

Good to hear you figured it out!

Leigh Powell Hines said...

I so understand. I'm having issues with Chrome today, and am in Explorer. Chrome is not letting me comment on blogs...it's like I'm not signed in. So annoying.