I have not posted anything for the last week. The reason was a computer problem. My current computer was originally a Windows Vista Machine. When Windows 7 came out I upgraded to that as Vista had quite a few problems and I seemed to be having them all. While the upgrade was successful it seems that I had set myself up for the problem that came to head a little over a week ago.
My registry (The part of Windows that keeps track of where everything is and how it is supposed to work) had become corrupted beyond repair. Since the original computer was Vista I had bought an upgrade to Windows 7. You cannot do a fresh install with an upgrade disk. (Or so I thought) After trying every registry repair program I could find I tried the next step use the disks supplied by the manufacturer and reinstall the original system. Well as you would expect they did not work. They could not deal with the new operating system on the computer.
So I decided I would buy a new hard drive and try. So a visit to our local FRYS yielded a Hitachi 1TB drive that met the specs of my machine and was only 54 bucks, what a deal. So I happily went home and put the drive in the computer. No luck the Acer disks expected the 320 GB that had been installed in the computer. Another trip to FRYS. The original disk a 320 was in stock but it was 160 dollars. As luck would have it there was one employee in that department that had more than a blank stare on their face. He looked at me quite incredulously and said just call Microsoft they will give you an unlock code for the upgrade and you can do a clean install.
Could it really be that easy. I went home and called Microsoft and got Tech Support in India (of course). After going through the screener that determined who I needed (10 minutes of interesting conversation) she sent me to a tech. Another 10 minutes to get through what I wanted to do and the light bulb finally dawned on the technician and he said oh its easy just call us back when you have your computer ready and everything laid out for the install. By now I am dreading calling back and going back through the maize and reexplaining my problem.
So I again dial tech support. Again I get India. However this time the screener seems to be both alert and quick in comprehension. 45 seconds and I am to a tech. My luck has to change right. The tech comes on and is a very pleasant Indian woman. I explain my problem and she gets it on the first try. Leads me step by step through the process and we have a pleasant conversation while we are waiting for the computer to do its thing in the install. The best part was she never tried to cover up the fact she was in India and was a skilled conversationalist to boot. 20 minutes later (most of the time waiting on the computer the operating system was installed and up.
My hats off to Microsoft, this was the first time a tech call fielded in India had not ended up we me wanting to jump through the phone and strangle someone. A few days of configuration and moving data as well as, installing programs. I did go buy the newest versions of the programs we use most to insure no registry problems in the near future. My computer is finally back.
I was able to recover almost all of our data (Some emails were lost) but I am pleased to say I am back and will have more posts later this week.
Bruce
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