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I believe I posted a bit of a rant a few weeks ago about people who discard CDs and manuals for their computer without realising that they might need them later. Here's the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say.
Not having the CD for the Alcatel ADSL modem handy, we had to put Daz's computer back on his old failing hard drive. After a few weeks, I decided that I'd look around for a better modem, and found an ADSL router for £28 (around US$54) at the computer fair at Tottenham Court Road. I also found a little gadget that makes a temporary USB drive out of any IDE hard drive, thus allowing easy connection and testing. So, I made arrangements to go to Daz's place today and finish the job.
I got there, we archived his Outlook emails so we could transfer them easily, and then I switched hard drives and connected his old one up using the USB converter. The new drive worked fine, but the old one on USB couldn't be recognised by the CPU. After some fiddling, I got tired of this and just connected the old drive up as a slave. I then copied over all the rest of the stuff he had that he wanted to save, and disconnected the old drive forever.
Once I had this done, I wanted to connect up the new router. But did Daz know his password for his ISP? Did he not! We had to contact the ISP and get them to give him his password. I then connected up the router and it worked first time (yay! How many times can I say that has happened).
So I installed Office 2003 and got all his emails into it through connecting the archive and moving the emails back to the proper folder. Worked first time (double yay!). His webcam was next and, of course, there was no model name and number on it and, again, it was a gift from a friend with no box or manual. I asked for the CD and, after a bit of fiddling, he found the CD and we got the webcam and the printer installed and working (triple yay!) I'd go for the quadruple yay of having put all his cookies and his IE favourites onto the new drive, but that'd be boasting.
Of course, when we went to sign on his MSN Messenger, did he remember the password? Did he not! So we went through the rigamarole of trying to reset the password through Daz remembering the answer to his "secret question". Did he remember the answer to the "secret question"? Did he not! So no hotmail or MSN Messenger for him. He currently has a service request in to them.
Finally, and unfortunately, when we rooted around for the webcam driver CD and found it, in the same envelope was...wait for it...the Alcatel modem CD. So he could have had the new system up and working weeks ago. Sigh...
I made him put all the material in a large envelope and put it away safely. He's such a dear and I love him to bits. I'm glad that I could be of help.
It was a lovely day, and I get my reward massage next Tuesday. Plus I learned lots of stuff about breathing some life into elderly failing computers.
Not having the CD for the Alcatel ADSL modem handy, we had to put Daz's computer back on his old failing hard drive. After a few weeks, I decided that I'd look around for a better modem, and found an ADSL router for £28 (around US$54) at the computer fair at Tottenham Court Road. I also found a little gadget that makes a temporary USB drive out of any IDE hard drive, thus allowing easy connection and testing. So, I made arrangements to go to Daz's place today and finish the job.
I got there, we archived his Outlook emails so we could transfer them easily, and then I switched hard drives and connected his old one up using the USB converter. The new drive worked fine, but the old one on USB couldn't be recognised by the CPU. After some fiddling, I got tired of this and just connected the old drive up as a slave. I then copied over all the rest of the stuff he had that he wanted to save, and disconnected the old drive forever.
Once I had this done, I wanted to connect up the new router. But did Daz know his password for his ISP? Did he not! We had to contact the ISP and get them to give him his password. I then connected up the router and it worked first time (yay! How many times can I say that has happened).
So I installed Office 2003 and got all his emails into it through connecting the archive and moving the emails back to the proper folder. Worked first time (double yay!). His webcam was next and, of course, there was no model name and number on it and, again, it was a gift from a friend with no box or manual. I asked for the CD and, after a bit of fiddling, he found the CD and we got the webcam and the printer installed and working (triple yay!) I'd go for the quadruple yay of having put all his cookies and his IE favourites onto the new drive, but that'd be boasting.
Of course, when we went to sign on his MSN Messenger, did he remember the password? Did he not! So we went through the rigamarole of trying to reset the password through Daz remembering the answer to his "secret question". Did he remember the answer to the "secret question"? Did he not! So no hotmail or MSN Messenger for him. He currently has a service request in to them.
Finally, and unfortunately, when we rooted around for the webcam driver CD and found it, in the same envelope was...wait for it...the Alcatel modem CD. So he could have had the new system up and working weeks ago. Sigh...
I made him put all the material in a large envelope and put it away safely. He's such a dear and I love him to bits. I'm glad that I could be of help.
It was a lovely day, and I get my reward massage next Tuesday. Plus I learned lots of stuff about breathing some life into elderly failing computers.
