Saturday, November 15, 2003
Why I Love My Mac More Than My PC
In addition to being "under the weather" this week, I have had the added joy of experiencing major computer snafus with my Windows 98 PC.
geekygURL that I rightfully claim to be, I am not a "hardware person" when it comes to Windows PCs, and I don't think I ever will be. I cut my hardware chops on a Macintosh, and I have never been able to come to grips with why the Windows operating system has to be so freakin' complicated. The whole idea of the Windows Registry just gives me a headache. It's not that I haven't tried to get better with PCs, I just think that part of my brain is wired differently -- the Apple way.
My PC was having trouble shutting down, having trouble starting up (Safe Mode was becoming my friend), wasn't playing any sound, and couldn't connect to my printer. Sigh. Despite several hours on the phone with Gateway this week, I could not get things running right. (With the exception of the sound -- I did get that back.)
So I finally decided to farm out the troubleshooting work, and went to a local PC guy. (Actually, he was nice enough to come to my home office and pick up the computer, which was great since I still wasn't feeling too hot.) He returned it the next day, having backed up my data files, upgraded the operating system to Windows XP professional, tripling the RAM, and put in a new 60G hard drive and a CDR drive (I'd previously had read-only capabilities). I felt like I was getting a reborn computer, and the cost was reasonable.
However, I am still having a couple of problems -- most notably with the absence of any sound. I also can't sync my Palm, despite having downloaded the new software. And there are some software issues I need to iron out. Sigh. I am sure I will figure it out eventually (or the PC guy will help me).
I have rarely ever had these types of problems with my Macintosh.
But for now, at least I am back up and running (mostly).
e-mail this writer
geekygURL that I rightfully claim to be, I am not a "hardware person" when it comes to Windows PCs, and I don't think I ever will be. I cut my hardware chops on a Macintosh, and I have never been able to come to grips with why the Windows operating system has to be so freakin' complicated. The whole idea of the Windows Registry just gives me a headache. It's not that I haven't tried to get better with PCs, I just think that part of my brain is wired differently -- the Apple way.
My PC was having trouble shutting down, having trouble starting up (Safe Mode was becoming my friend), wasn't playing any sound, and couldn't connect to my printer. Sigh. Despite several hours on the phone with Gateway this week, I could not get things running right. (With the exception of the sound -- I did get that back.)
So I finally decided to farm out the troubleshooting work, and went to a local PC guy. (Actually, he was nice enough to come to my home office and pick up the computer, which was great since I still wasn't feeling too hot.) He returned it the next day, having backed up my data files, upgraded the operating system to Windows XP professional, tripling the RAM, and put in a new 60G hard drive and a CDR drive (I'd previously had read-only capabilities). I felt like I was getting a reborn computer, and the cost was reasonable.
However, I am still having a couple of problems -- most notably with the absence of any sound. I also can't sync my Palm, despite having downloaded the new software. And there are some software issues I need to iron out. Sigh. I am sure I will figure it out eventually (or the PC guy will help me).
I have rarely ever had these types of problems with my Macintosh.
But for now, at least I am back up and running (mostly).
e-mail this writer
