How to Fix a Computer!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted a blog. Thanks to AubreyJ for the push to get back into blogging.

Lately I have been dealing with some changes with my computer system. Funny how much time it can take to get your system just the way you like it and then you find you have to upgrade. I went from XP home edition to the Pro in order to get my cable system working and found all kinds of glitches through the process. Got it going pretty good. Almost satisfied. Too close to very good. Almost happy. Now I have placed another computer close by so my wife can play games and IM her friends while I list items on eBay and blog. Family time is different these days from the way Ozzie and Harriet lived.

Lot of fun getting the 2 machines in sync. Wifey-poo doesn't get to do much game playing or IM'ing. I spend half my time getting her computer the way I like it. The other half is spent getting the new gliches out of my computer.

Two major problems with getting the systems to network. That is, I now have two computers. The machines would see each other. They could see through the wire to the router and beyond. I would try to connect to the internet on either machine and both would recognize everything up to the router. They would collect my IP address and stop. They would not connect to my Internet Service Provider. I could not get anywhere near Google, that is, the center of the known internet universe. I was stuck in the real world. Unless I separated them and connected each to the internet one at a time.

Fine if I didn't mind spending the rest of my life switching wires. - I did mind.

In trying to fix it I would get a message that the primary machine's administrator had to set up the connection. It didn't care that I am the administrator on both machines. Neither machine wanted to admit to being the primary one. Plus the message gave no clue as to how the administrator (read - ME - ) was to fix it once he figured out which was the primary. Back and forth from one desk to the other with a pile of books to go around each time. Got a bit of exercise. About 3-4 days worth of exercise.

Opening help windows, going in circles with the troubleshooters, clicking on little boxes that I hoped to hell would not cause my motherboards to fry, wondering how I got to the last page where I changed settings and just closed, wondering if I'd ever find my way back to correct my blunders, Googling questions in the hopes that I would get a clue from someone else's ghost of misery past...

It was all worth it. Now I'm a bit puffed up with pride and a lot of joy because I did it and I did not need to pay big bucks for some computer geek to pretend that he knew what he was doing while he changed back all the system settings I had changed.

So now, this paragraph is for that frustrated someone who finds themselves in a similar situation. You have Googled a question and for reasons only God knows this blog came near the top. You are asking, "What did he do to fix it?" "Come'on" you say, "Tell me!" - - - Well, what I did was go up to each machine on or around the 3rd or 4th day of this nonsense and found them both working.

That's it! I have discovered the secret that I'm willing to bet every computer geek has known for years... HOW TO FIX YOUR COMPUTER by PRYING1 - chapter 1 - Walk away and come back later! - chapter 2 - Blog and boast about it.