For years now my step son has told me to get a new computer. My Windows XP has been a faithful servant for a long time. Several years ago I broke down and bought a laptop with Windows 8.1.

The shop that sold it to me refused to help me set it up. It had a touch screen which was supposed to make the transition easier, lol, or is it col (cry out loud )!

The salesman said, “just go on line, it is easy!” Okay, I said to myself. I took it home and started to work on the beast. Turning on the beast was easy, but from there on troubles abounded!

The system was all Greek to me. The touch screen continually threw me for a loop. Every move, every corner, every touch, every breath seemed to draw me farther into frustration.

After 10 days of endless pain, I packed up the beast and returned it to the store. I told them their product was a piece of garbage and that I would never buy from them again!

Several more years passed by, it took that long for the discomfort to fade. My step son kept reminding me I needed to get my computer updated. Now I’m older and wiser, aren’t I ?

I chose another store to go look at what was available. Windows 10 was the current system to get I was told. I wanted the store to set up the basic stuff so I wouldn’t run into the same problems as I had with Windows 8.1.

I didn’t get the information I wanted so I went to a different store which said they would set it up for me. After I bought and paid for the laptop, the store set it up, I was playing with the computer and somewhere it said the laptop was a notebook, so once again I’m somewhat confused.

I’ve done nothing about the difference because I’m not sure that it matters that much. The important thing is that I didn’t get a touch screen. I went out and bought a cordless mouse which is a huge bonus.

My first real problem was being unable to print from the laptop which is something I’ve still not figured out at the time of this writing. The second problem was being unable to connect to the Wi-Fi which I was able to solve with some help.

I still have the desktop with Windows XP so when the laptop gets too troublesome I will shut it down and go back to the familiar system. Of course that tack is only prolonging the problems.

I was speaking with a computer programmer recently about my printer issues and he reminded me that the keyboard shortcuts are a good alternative when all else fails, I hope he is right.

The games such as solitaire have been vastly updated from the XP version to the Windows 10 version. The dangers have also increased with Windows 10. The popups seem to be getting more lethal. I know of two people who have been sucked in to those schemes. Four or five years ago I fell victim to such a scheme, it cost me $250.00 and a lot of anguish and regret.

The crooks make their deception look so convincingly trustworthy. We have to be vigilant and aware that Microsoft doesn’t have the time nor the resources to be running around telling everyone their computer systems are messed up.

Has it been worth it to update my computer? To this point all I can say is I hope so. When I first got a computer it had Windows 95 and it took me several years to get used to it. I hope Windows 10 is an easier transition.

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