A Second Opinion

I am definitely a Kamikaze clicker. The result is that I know many applications at an advanced level. This is not because I am so intelligent. I have merely made almost every mistake you can make and have learned in the process.

I did it again! I shut off my power a fraction of a second before Windows XP had shut down. The result was that my Windows would not load again. It suggested I load it in Safe Mode and a few other options. I tried them all, but I always took me around in circles right back to where I started.

The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I phoned Hewlett Packard, the manufacturer of the computer I own. My warranty had run out and I had to pay a service fee.

My first call was actually placed to India. The person’s knowledge of English was not acceptable, which didn’t give me the confidence to accept the advice. I decided to wait until Monday morning and get another representative.

On Monday, I talked to a Canadian representative. After about an hour on the phone trying this and that, the computer geek declared my computer fried and said I would have to reinstall everything. I had my documents backed up, but I had done this several months previously, so I lost a lot of things. He convinced me that I had no other option. I believed him. I paid about $60 to hear what I didn’t want to hear. It’s like taking somebody out to lunch and paying for it only to hear she is breaking up with you.

I spent a sleepless night last night knowing I had done the same thing again. Although I had a backup from two weeks ago, I didn’t look forward to the long process of reinstalling everything.

I tried calling the Kim Komando show. She’s a female geek or a geek goddess who is on the radio Saturday mornings. I couldn’t get through.

As you may know, I live in the humble town of St. Marys, Ontario, population 6,500. We have a computer store called The Source. It is part of a chain, but I think we have the best one in Canada. Bill owns it. Bill also knows computers very well. When I called him, he assured me that he could solve my problem.

You know what? He was right. He rewrote the registry, whatever that means, and I am back in business. He charged me $50 to do something that the mighty Hewlett Packard organization couldn’t do for $60.

It just goes to show you if somebody tells you that something can’t be done, keep trying until you find the person who can do it. Everything is possible. It’s just that some people just don’t know how. Find the ones who do and you will be more successful in life.