I Hate Microsoft Updates

I hate Microsoft updates.  Sometimes, as happened tonight, the updates kidnap my computer and do not allow it to run at my command, and prevent me from doing what I want to do with my computer.  Tonight, it took more than 30 minutes for the updates to finish running and my computer was available to me again.

I also hate it when Microsoft sends out updates that reconfigure my computer: makes my home page look different, tries to change my sign on, adds layers of protection I don't ask for, and changes the way I access things like the Internet.  I did not want to change from Microsoft Explorer to Microsoft Edge, but Microsoft did that for me without asking me or giving me any opportunity to opt out.  I suspect Microsoft no longer supports Explorer, and that is just pure wrong.  If they put out a product, they need to support in perpetuity. Sorry. That is the expectation. Why do these computer companies get away with not supporting programs they advance, and force us to use new one?  We pay good money to use the programs the offer us, and that good money should ensure us we can use those programs as long as we want to.  I think the computer companies are thieves. 

Wireless

I have a wireless network at my  house that I really do not take full advantage of.  I have recently spent more time in the living room or at the dining table using WIFI to connect remotely to the Internet.  And, just recently, have started sitting in the backyard to do the same, although years ago, when I first set up my wireless network, I spent a lot of time on the front porch and in the backyard using my wireless network. 

I may have recently written that I purchased a WIFI enabled printer that I did not hook up to WIFI when I first purchased it.  Recently, I did complete the WIFI connection and, although there is a bit of delay in the printing process, I am glad to have enabled the WIFI printer process. 

Return to Access

It was good last night to return to cell phone and internet access, and to watch the news.  Unfortunately, much of it was a rehash of what has been going on in the Trump presidency for the last six months.  He does it to himself.

Watching the news tonight, it just did not feel like there was anything new about it.  Maybe a return to access is not that important.

Lack of Media

We have been without media for all intents and purposes since some time on Saturday.  The radio reception was bad for much of the day, then we entered the National Parks, and there is no cell phone reception, except in very few places, no TV, no radio in our cabin, and no internet.  We could purchase internet, but why?

The most difficult thing for me during this time is being without weather media.  The weather forecasts are posted on most of the Yellowstone General Store doors, which is helpful, but I still like maps, radar, and weathercasts.  But the postings do help.

I feel lost without any electronic media.  But it is a good experience. One of the results of the quiet is that not only am I able to notice and think about things, but my brain is not so busy and impacted that I cannot blog about things. 

I know this to be true.  I do blog more often and more effectively if I turn down the noise at home: no TV, no radio, and if I do music, it is bagpipes, musical scores, Gregorian chants, or classical music.

So, tonight, as we relax in the cabin, we are listening to Andrea Bocelli’s “Concert in the Park.” I could play the DVD, but viewing would be a little tight.  Listening is just perfect.

Internet Problems

So, my Internet connection stopped working the evening of December 17, 2016. I tried rebooting the connection, and reconnecting the Internet.  Nothing worked. I called my ISP Suddenlink http://home.suddenlink.net/ , and when they checked it, they could not find anything to help me.  I have in home coverage, and we set up an appointment for Tuesday afternoon when I am going to be home waiting for the plumber.  I hate Internet problems.

So when I signed on to the computer on December 18, 2016, the Internet was working. I was visiting with a neighbor that day, who also had Internet problems on the 17th.  I told her my problems were resolved on the next day.  She had not tried her Internet. I hope her problems were resolved also.

Email Weirdness

So, when I got on my computer this afternoon, I could not download my email.  It appeared to be a server problem, but my Internet connection was working just fine.  So, I went to the Suddenlink home page http://home.suddenlink.net/ and tried to get into my emails on the website.  I have two active accounts and neither one would load emails. That was weird.  So, I decided to do some other things and get back to the email problem when I was prepared to call Suddenlink and be tied up on the phone for a while.

Well, when I tried later one, everything worked the way it was supposed to work. That was good!

Internet Problems, Updated

Well, my Internet problems did not go away.  Even after I tried rebooting, and unplugging and rebooting.  I decided to get a new router, because mine was so old, I could not use the Smart TV with wireless very effectively.  Well I did not have too much difficulty connecting the router.  And I can tell the difference in my laptop.  I also connected the TV to the new network.  However, my Internet problems did not go away.  But I discovered that I can change from Microsoft Edge, which I did not load onto my laptop, but which showed up after a Microsoft update, to Internet Explore, and I can access the sites I was having trouble with on the Edge. We shall see how this progresses. 

Internet Problems

I heard on the news that there have been some serious Internet problems this week.  I have had some serious Internet problems tonight.  Earlier, all of my favorite sites were loading just fine, and the commercial sites I was trying to load were slow but okay, but the government sites were not loading.  Now, the government sites are loading, but some of my favorite sites are not loading quickly, and are getting stuck. 

I ran a virus scan that mostly got rid of cookies. But there were no other problems.

I will see what happens tomorrow. 

Computer Fix

Some weeks ago, after an automatic Windows update, when I tried to open the Internet browser from my email, I was directed to something other than my regular browser. This concerned me at first, but I explored this, and it seemed to be okay.  I do not do this often, but over time, I evidently do it more than I realize I do.

Thursday night, another automatic Windows update was occurring.  I remember, because when I tried to sign onto the computer, I could not at first, and had to wait for some time.  When I did finally get onto the computer, I had some trouble.  I blamed it on yet another unwanted Windows update. 

But in truth, I had been dealing with my computer slowing down recently, mostly when I was using the Internet.  Email and offline activities were just fine, so I did not think it was a virus. But I did not know what to do about the Internet.  Because I had been having some problems, and keep getting notices about needing to run Toshiba updates, I had decided to work on this next month, while I was on vacation.  I still might.

But, looking through email today, I clicked on a link to view something in my browser.  And I was poking around on the alternate Internet access, which also did not seem to be working okay.  I clicked on tabs, and realized that every time I had accessed the Internet this way, even though I closed the browser, it did not actually close the tab.  After spending quite some time closing all of these tabs, I went back to the other link I use to access the Internet, and guess what?  Things were working much, much better! 

Yeah! 

Smart Phone

I did not think I would really benefit by changing to a smart phone, and my friends and colleagues kept telling me I would wonder how I got along without it.  They were right!  A perfect example occurred tonight.  I missed the local weather when I got home from work, and quickly fed the cats and headed out to meet some friends for dinner. 

On the way, I watched a small cloud cell approach Lubbock. Before I went into the restaurant, I checked the local weather, and saw that the front was still miles away, and moving East, so probably the heaviest part of the weather would pass North of us.

After dinner, we went to the Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ Mystery Book Club.  I checked the local weather again before I went into Barnes and Noble.  During our book club, one of the members had the local weather on her Ipad or tablet.   This allowed us to keep an eye on the weather:  There was concern for serious, damaging weather, which did not develop, at least yet.

Checking the weather, the storms have now moved to the South and East, and will, for now, miss Lubbock.  Oh well.  At least I can keep on top of it!

A Very Good Reason Not to Bundle Technological Services

When I got home late Saturday afternoon, the Internet and cable TV services provided by Suddenlink  http://home.suddenlink.net/ were not available. I checked all of my cable connections, and disconnected all of my equipment from power sources and then re-established power to all of my equipment.  A phone call to Suddenlink resulted in my getting a fast busy, so I knew there was a systematic problem.  A later phone call resulted in my getting a recorded message that Suddenlink services for my area were down, and of course the requisite apologies were made. 

Fortunately, I have cell phone service that is not connected to Suddenlink. This is a good reason not to bundle.  If my only phone source was also Suddenlink, I would have no access to the outside world, including for emergency services.

Throughout the evening, I checked on the Internet and TV service, and it continued to be unavailable.  At about 10 PM, I dialed into Suddenlink, and stayed on line 45 minutes before I was able to talk to a live agent.  He acknowledged the problem, and said it was the result of an accident in the area, and Suddenlink had crews working non-stop, even overnight, to remedy the problem. He said the crews could not project a time to fix the problem, and acknowledged that with the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, this was a serious issue in terms of customer satisfaction.

I had plenty of other activities to do that did not require TV or Internet:  I worked on the Catholic Charities board meeting minutes, I read, I reconciled my check book with statements of bills received (although I could not pay the bills on line, as I usually do), I wrote a letter to a local charity about my planned donation.

I have been a Suddenlink customer for years, and while I have had some minor problems with Suddenlink , mostly because my secondary email account gets locked out because of too any returns, I am not dissatisfied with Suddenlink.  I will not abandon them because of this problem, but if their track record in the future diminishes, I might abandon them.

So now it is after midnight, and guess what, the cable and Internet service has been restored! Yeah! Wow! Just like that!

TV Listings

I use Suddenlink http://home.suddenlink.net/ for cable and Internet service.  Although I think the price is very high, for the most part, I get good service, including good technical service when I have an Internet problem. When they schedule home service, they can give you a two hour block to expect the technician, and there is one that is after hours (4-6 PM).  I have seen the Suddenlink trucks out in the worst weather. When I call for service after hours, they have an announcement about any current issues or problems, and a status statement. And, the technical staff are local, and speak in accents that I understand.  The last two or three times that I had technical problems, the technician acted as if I was the only person who had called in that night, and they had all the time in the world. They both called back to be sure the fix worked!  I thought that was wonderful customer service. Recently, I thought I was going to need in home service. The tech told me to order the $5 a month in home protection before we scheduled the service, but it could be cancelled at any time.

Recently, on the home page, I clicked on TV listings, and received a message that that service was no longer available, to use the on TV listings. I was not too pleased. I have two different "boxes" for my TVs.  One allows for advancing the time and checking programming, but one shows me limited programming information.

Well, I am not easily deterred, and most recently have clicked on TV listings again.  I mean, why have that heading if you are not going to offer something?  Well, lo and behold!  There is a new TV listing program.  And it is so much better that the previous one!  Wow!  I even sent an email to Suddenlink to tell them how much I appreciate the new listing service!  Some times, good things happen.

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Sometimes, I feel like my time on the computer is wasted days and wasted nights. And tonight was a good example.   I was doing things on the computer, using the Internet, and after a while, got frustrated because my email would not download.  Well, after my computer had been working very nicely, thank you, on the Internet, all of a sudden, that stopped. 

So, I reset the modem, the router, and the computer three times. Because it seemed to be working and then stopped, and Microsoft offered to detect the problem and fix it, it took me almost 2 hours to do this.  So, then I called the Internet provider service.  We spent another 40 or so minutes trying fix the computer and could not.  We set up an appointment so a technician could come to me home, Wednesday to check the system. (So what am I supposed to do between now and Wednesday?)

Well, I went back onto the system, to the Internet options, and did what it said not to do, unless I could not use the Internet.  I reset the Internet connections to the default settings.  I have had to do this a couple of times recently, but under different circumstances:  my email would work, but the Internet explorer options would not. Well, shazam! Tonight this fixed both the Internet connection and the email connection.

I am not sure why this happens. I did not hit any buttons or go to any sites that I do not normally use.  This is so frustrating to me.  And the time waiting for everything to reset is interminable.  Except, I got the library book I was reading and made good progress in it. 

But this time working on computer connectivity really is wasted days and wasted nights.

Do I Really Need A Smart Phone?

So, I have an old-fashion flip phone.  It has a camera, which I do not use, and I can actually access the internet with it, if I want to, but access is so slow, and the screen size is so small, I have long ago discontinued that service plan.

I keep debating about getting a smart phone.  I can text with my flip phone. I pay for each text message.  But, the truth be known, for as much texting I do, the pay per text message cost is still much lower than what I would pay to have a smart phone unlimited plan.

So, why do I need a smart phone? I don't.  There are two reasons that are not very compelling for me to get a smart phone:   The technology of my flip phone is outdated, and there will come a time when it is so outdated that it will limit my phone capabilities.  Since I usually only use my phone for voice communication, that has not yet happened.

The other reason I might want (not need) a smart phone is because I want to learn and use that level of technology.  The truth be know, I seldom text, and I do not make a lot of phone calls. I might like the portable internet access, but I am not sure the price is worth the convenience. 

My cell phone service is with Sprint http://www.sprint.com/mysprint/pages/sl/global/index.jsp. I have been a long term customer with Sprint, I think since 2003.  I see the promotional offers for customers to change to Sprint, but I have never once recalled an offer from Sprint to reduce my bill, or give me a deal because I have been a long term customer. (This is a wrong, long term customers need to get consideration.)

In November of 2013, I had a connectivity problem which Sprint denied was happening, until I finally convinced someone to check on it and they realized it was occurring. I could not use my phone in my home for a week.  I asked for a price adjustment, was told it would be only a few dollars, and said I wanted it anyway.

Within the past 12 months, I had another such problem, but it was resolved much more quickly. 

Every time I call customer service at Sprint, I am thanked for being a long time customer, but those thanks are not reflected in my bill. Sprint needs to figure it out.  If they really value me as a long term customer, they need to find a way to reward me for that.  That might include giving me a deal on an upgrade, as if I were transferring in from another cell phone service provider.

Microsoft Outlook: Grrr

So, I am using Microsoft Outlook for my primary email program.  Suddenlink is my Internet and email platform provider, but I choose  to download my email to my computer via Microsoft Outlook.

When I first set up Outlook, my emails would disappear!  I could not figure it out.  Eventually, I figured out how to use Outlook and not lose my emails.  Or so I thought.  Today, I downloaded several emails, but did not process them, as I have to do for my main email, but not the secondary email.  I deleted them from the Suddenlink email program, but then, the unprocessed emails disappeared.  I sent them again, and again, they disappeared. So, because by then I had deleted the emails from my Suddenlink account, I could not resend them to my email. But they were still in my "trash can" on Suddenlink, so I copied and pasted the body of the emails I wanted, and sent them to myself.

Lesson learned, I will need to be sure that have downloaded and processed the emails before I delete them from the Suddenlink mail box.

The First Friday Night Art Trail

Lubbock has done an interesting thing to promote the arts and entertainment venues in Lubbock. I do not think it is unique to Lubbock, but it is fun. They have developed the First Friday Art Trail http://www.ffat.org/.  Basically, this is a group of galleries and entertainment venues that offer specials on the first Friday of the month, and the galleries stay open until 9 PM.  Even the Texas Tech Museum, http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/event.html, which is a few miles from the main venues, has gotten into the act.

Some venues offer food and drink for sale, others offer free samples. Some offer live entertainment. Much of this occurs in the Depot District http://www.visitlubbock.org/business/Attractions/274 which is primarily a privately funded re-vitalization effort to improve downtown Lubbock, and provide art, music, entertainment, dining and what have you venues.  In the summer, it includes a farmer's market http://lubbockdowntownfarmersmarket.com/. 

However, another part of the trail includes the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts http://www.lhuca.org/. This organization has spearheaded an arts awakening in Lubbock  The Center has grown, as has various off-shoots:  The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra http://www.lubbocksymphony.org/ has a home and gallery in the area. The Lubbock Moonlight Musicals http://lubbockmoonlightmusicals.org/DinnerTheaterMap.html does their dinner theater productions in the area.

The city offers a free trolley service between the two venues between 6 PM and 9 PM.  But, if you miss the last trolley, you are stuck, and some of the neighborhoods between the two venues are unsavory.

As we visited both the Depot District and the Underwood Center venues, and returned to the Depot District, it occurred to me that the City of Lubbock needs to develop a corridor between the two areas. It is about a mile. The corridor needs to be well lit and populated with businesses that would attract people who are interested in art, music, drama, literature, entertainment and sports fields.  Shows happening every night, galleries open regularly, pay TV sports events, and make it safe to walk between the two venues with lights, businesses and activity, as well as police presence as needed. It does not need to be a straight line. It does need to be really safe.

Well, this is just an idea. I sent it on to the mayor.

Who knows.

Electronic Escapades, or at least, Episodes

So, when I returned home from my vacation, I was having technical difficulties in my life.  The TV in the same room, on the same but split feed, from the cable company to my computer system (wi-fi router), was having reception problems.  Grrr.

And, my computer was running distressingly slow.  I had to reboot, I had to wait, if I clicked more than one thing it did not work, you get the picture.  I even stopped going to Facebook, which was a mega-slow download before I went on vacation.  I just assumed I that while I was using the free wi-fi at the hotel, had gotten into something that slowed my computer way down.

By chance, I remembered I had a spy ware program, and I ran it.  It took for ever, and it identified about 10 files that I needed to "fix", so I clicked on "fix."  Hmmm, a little better but not great.

I called the cable company about the TV, and was advised to unplug the box and restart it after 15 seconds or so. That lasted a few hours. But, then, I unplugged the box for several hours, and that helped immensely.

For a couple of days. Today, I had the same signal interruption problem that I had before. This time, I was told to try to connect the cable directly into the box, by-passing the splitter (to the modem for the computer as well as the TV).  I did so, and  the television worked better than ever!

So, I purchased a new splitter tonight.  When I installed it, the TV was working fine.  I turned on the computer, and downloaded email and Internet stuff, then lost the Internet signal.  I rebooted the Internet by unplugging the modem and router and plugging them in, one at a time, with several minutes in between. That did not work. I disconnected and reconnected the Internet. That did not work. I remembered that the router has a reset button, so I tried that, and so far, tonight, things seem to be working as well, if not better than when I went on vacation.

I had decided that after I returned to work, I would take the laptop in to be fixed.  I can always check my emails at work, and do not have to do other online stuff I like to do.  But, I may not have to do that.

The litmus test was Facebook, which had been excruciatingly slow before I went on vacation and all this happened. While it was slow tonight, it was not so bad.  

Hopefully the new equipment and the resets have made a difference.  We shall see.

The World Wide Web

March 12, 1989 is celebrated as the birth of the World Wide Web, which makes it 25 years old, this year!  Most of us did not realize it, but there was an Internet, and the military and large industries were using it, to share information and communication before this. I realize, for example, airlines were using computers many, many years ago.

But Tim Berners-Lee http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/03/12/inventor-celebrates-reflects-on-world-wide-webs-25th-anniversary/ had the vision, and WWW was born!

This has so changed the world, that someone who was in a coma in 1988, and woke up in 2014, would not recognize the world.

I got on the web in the mid 1990's.  I remember watching the Today show in 1994, when the Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Winter_Olympics were being played. NBC http://www.nbc.com/ was touting the use of the Internet, specifically Prodigy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_(online_service) to show real time broadcasts of the Olympics.  The connections were slow, frequently interrupted, and the quality was not very good, but the concept was so exciting.

I bought my first computer about 1994 or 1995.  I did not know what all I could accomplish with it, but I had it.   I had a dial up connection with Prodigy that was slow, disconnected frequently and was unstable and unreliable.  After a while, I gave up.  But then, I used AOL http://www.aol.com/ and although it was dial up, the connections were more stable and reliable.

After that, the Internet and WWW soared! 

Now we have access at home, in WIFI hot spots, by cell phone, Tablets, IPods, IPhones, and so many other ways.  We can have wireless networks at home. There is Internet access in many public places, many commercial and municipal places, even rest stops on highways, sometimes for free, sometimes for a subscription service.

I feel lost when I do not have regular access to the Internet. 

When I was first connected, I liked being able to have email access to so many people who were also on the Internet.

But now, I most appreciate the ready access to information.  I grew up perusing the World Book Encyclopedia just because I liked looking at the pictures and reading the information. Well, being an information junkie, you can imagine how I feel about the Internet:  I can just look up whatever, whenever.

I do not have a smart phone.  I can live without one. But sometimes I think I would so enjoy the use of the smart phone to access information "on the go."

I think eventually I will graduate to a smart phone, because the World Wide Web is so accessible by a smart phone.

What an exciting time we live in!

A New Skill

I have begun using Inter-library Loan more and more over the years. Of course, as fate would have it, starting last fall this service entailed a small fee ($2.75) per book, which is still reasonable, less expensive that buying a book, and then does not saddle me with the decision of what to do with the book once I have read it!

Some time ago, a reference librarian gave me the instructions to make the requests by computer. I tried it once, and it did not go through.  But today, when I tried it, it worked!  Yeah!

Network Repairs

On April 30. 2013, we had a sever storm warning in Lubbock. There was no projection, earlier in the day, that we would have a storm in Lubbock, although there was a projection for very high winds, and later in the week, we would have freezing weather, and possible precipitation.

Mid-afternoon on April 30,2013, I was walking west in our building at work, and I saw the front moving in: In West Texas, this is easy:  the clouds form a line of demarcation.  Neither the National Weather Service, http://www.weather.gov/ nor The Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/weather/today/Lubbock+TX+79413?from=hp_promolocator&lswe=79413&lwsa=Weather36HourInterstateCommand predicted this weather event. But I suspected there would be a storm: the clouds were dense and moving quickly.

At about 5 PM, the weather hit: some rain, strong winds, thunder, lightning that caused a grass fire, some updrafts.  But, all in all, no serious weather. The worst of the storm was the winds, which caused downed power lines.

The electric service to my house was interrupted momentarily in the early evening.  I had the TVs on, and the laptop computer was running.  The cable service was not interrupted, and all I had to do for the TVs was to restart them, and change the channel and volume. 

But, when I tried to reset the Internet service, the usual resetting of the modem and router did not work.  However, the router has a reset button, and engaging that button did the trick.

I am so glad that I can reset the wireless network in my house, by the various means I have learned over the years.