There. Done.
Not totally done. A few tweaks are still on the to-do list. But, for the most part, my transition to the new computer is finished.
Parts were easy, others weren’t. But we finally crossed the finish line late last week–most of the stuff I had to do has now been done. The big stuff.
The computer is quite nice. Windows 7 and I are getting along quite well. I like it much better than Vista, which I had on my laptop–which is now running 7, too.
As most of you know, one of the big problems in switching to a new computer is copying over programs, bookmarks and files.
Over the years, I have been fairly careful about keeping my computer installation discs and DVDs. Some are downloaded files that I simply keep in a downloads folder–the hard drive is large enough that I don’t have to throw them out.
As for utilities, I discovered a fast, easy and practically painfree way to add them. It’s a service called Ninite.com. All you have to do is go to Ninite, select the utilities you want, check a few boxes here and there and let the computer and the internet do the rest. Cool! It worked very well, including some of the open source programs, other freeware and all the way up to Microsoft’s utility programs. Even I could get it to run, so it should be a snap for the rest of you!
But as for the files I wanted to transfer, that was trickier. A few years ago, I added an external hard drive, and that is where I moved all my MP3s and other audio files. I made that the home for my iTunes folder. When I hooked up the external drive to the new computer, all the MP3s were right there.
My bookmarks were just as easy. I use Firefox, and I use the Firefox add-on, XMarks. It copies my bookmarks and passwords to the net, up in a cloud somewhere, ready for me to pull back down for the new computer. Just sign in, and there were all my bookmarks and logins.
You see, I don’t like to work hard or spend a lot of time doing the mundane stuff. That’s because I’ve got too little free time for my liking. So when I can to relax, I don’t want to be bothered with stuff.
But I had to be bothered with stuff about my treasured photo files. They were among the files, downloads and documents I wanted to transfer from the old computer’s hard disk. I had planned to move the photo files to the external drive. One of these days. You know, when I don’t want to relax. At any rate, it never got done. I really meant to do it, you know.
I ordered the new computer, but it took some time for it to be built and shipped over here. While that was going on, the old computer, through some sixth cyber sense, seemed to realize it was about to be replaced. I never called it HAL, but it seemed to take on that attitude. All of a sudden, I started getting many blue screens or freeze-ups. It was slow before, but now it was like a crippled turtle. Fact is, some programs had not been working for a while. I always kept the virus software up to date, and I used System Restore, but it didn’t get the job done.
It got to the point where I finally unplugged it and only used the laptop downstairs for about a week, until the new one arrived and was installed. But what about my files? The Easy Transfer program in Windows 7 doesn’t work if the old computer doesn’t work.
I turned to our office computer guy. I called him, explained my situation, and he brought over a device to which I could attach the old hard drive, with the files moved via a USB cable to my office desktop. My plan was to copy them onto recordable DVDs, and I brought three of them to the office that day. However, I batted 0 for 3–all three of the DVDs failed at some point in the transfer process. So I went to a drugstore in town, invested in an 8-gig thumbdrive, transferred the files to the thumbdrive and took them home on that (two trips).
That did the trick.
Now I am personalizing the computer, including some Google gadgets that I also use on the laptop. The favorite is a clock that looks sort of like my cat, Charlie. Ever see the Kit-Cat Klock? Sort of like that. The cat’s eyes and tail swing from side to side as time marches on–except late at night, when the cat’s eyelids close.
The gadgets look like this …
As you see, I also have a little desktop photo gadget, which I have set (of course) to the folder where my many and various pictures reside–good, bad and ugly.
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I keep waiting for things to calm down and get more orderly in my life. Maybe that’s just around the corner.
Against my better will, I got way too involved in basketball coverage again this winter, and then our Olympian’s story was something different. Plus, I really enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics–and yes, we finally got to see some hockey (curling, though, was a different matter entirely).
The high school basketball seasons are now over. Both my girls teams lost at the district tournament last week. The boys district tournament takes place this week, and we’ll see how long that goes.
My wife and I got a chance to see some good movies lately. We finally watched “Whip It” last week (after buying the DVD), and it was as good as they said. Enjoyed that film a lot.
This afternoon, I watched the first two periods of the Red Wings vs. Blackhawks hockey game–then my wife and I went to the local theater to see “Avatar,” which had just arrived. They had been promising “Avatar” for over a month–the “Coming Soon” poster near the theater entrance–but instead they had been showing this or that film that I couldn’t care less about. Imagine my disappointment, expecting to read “Avatar” on the theater marquee … and seeing “Alvin Squeakquel” instead.
David, our son, had been talking about wanting to see it (“Avatar,” that is), but he told us he wanted to wait until it got here instead of going to the bigger theater in Iron Mountain–which meant he had to wait. So guess what happened? My wife called him Satuday morning to tell him that “Avatar” had finally arrived in town … and he said he had gone to see it the night before. Sigh!
But we still wanted to see it, and we did this afternoon. Very interesting film. I’m sure most of you who were interested in seeing the film already have, so there is no need to recap the story.
By the way, this is interesting. The film was released in mid December. It got to my town in early March. And it gets released on DVD in late April.
Also, I’m sure many of you have had a chance to see the 3-D version. Not in our little theater, and the Iron Mountain theater also had only the 2-D version. 3-D must have been amazing to see … but we never had a prayer of getting that.
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There’s other news, but it can wait a little while. The big news development is the weather. The thaw has arrived! We got to 50F (10C) on Saturday, and we were close to 50 after the movie today. The mild weather is supposed to stay around, and the big meltdown is on. Mud and slush season is officially under way.
drdog