Rehabilitating The Computer

 Trying to some SOME problems, I have gotten the computer nearly beyond use.  I thought I would "fix" it last week, but I didn't.  I think I have too much of "everything".  

This week, I am going to try to recreate the basic functionality.  I don't know if I can.  I am getting stupid.  My smart phone just completely baffles me, and I am losing control over my email accounts.  I seem to have an iCloud email account, a Verizon email account, and a primary AOL email account.  And AOL is becoming increasingly unfriendly because of those others.

I need to go offline for a while.  I have some pre-set posts for the cat blog.  Sometimes, I write ahead of time.  

But mostly, I think I have to backup everything to my external drive, delete nearly everything I currently have, and save back carefully.

That is going to take a while.  I'm not really good or fast at this kind of stuff.  I may even change my ISP just to start fresh (saving emails, blogs, and bookmarks, which are mostly all that matter to me.

But I am going to start deleting a lot of options NOW!

I'll be back when I can...

Update:  First thing to do was get iCloud off my computer.  After several hours, I have downloaded iCloud back onto my hard drive.  That took a few hours.  But it also says it is "finishing".  And the dot on the bar is not moving fast.  Maybe the download is the "fast" part (hours) and the copying is slower.  I should check my internet speed...

Update:  Can't actually get iCloud OFF my Mac, but after downloading the files in it, I disabled it.  Took a while, but I love having companies UNABLED when possible.

Update:  12-14 2:47 AM.  Damn, just discovered my Mac Mini 2018 is NOT "user" RAM upgradable.  Apparently, I can't even buy the tools required to remove and replace them.  Sounds suspicious to me (you can buy anything) and I may check further, but maybe time to visit a computer store.  Macs are not as exclusive to repair stores as they used to be.  The local PC store geeks will do almost anything these days.  And I have the RAM chips to give them if that is an issue.  

But if I'm going through the trouble to have others upgrade it from 8 RAM to 16, I might as well to it to 24 or 32.  Can't be harmful...  Having money is WONDERFUL!  Sometimes overdoing things in the present is good for the future.  From what I'm reading, RAM is underappreciated.

Update:  1:32 pm.  OK, apparently, yes you can overdo RAM.  I found a site that says 64 RAM is the maximum my Mac Mini can handle.  So 32 is good.  I like to stay "just" under the danger limit.  I wish I had known the value of RAM when I bought this Mac Mini.  8 was recommended.  

I should have gone for 16 when I bought it.  But sites said 8 was "sufficient".  "Sufficient" sucks.  In computer world "more is better".  And especially after a few years.

Update:  1:55 pm.  Why am I fighting to do hardware stuff?  Software is hard enough and easier.  I'm going to the hardware guys.  After the hardware is upgraded, the software issues should be manageable.  And there are software geeks around here in case I fail.  Ads all over the place locally.  They are probably all able to solve my hardware issues.  "Incompetent Geek" doesn't even make much sense, LOL!

Update:  2:30 pm.  Wow, best price I could get for a RAM upgrade was $250.  It better be worth it!  On the other hand, they are coming here.  And it is a 2 hour minimum fee which means that I can get leftover time for software evaluation and "fixit".  The tech guy arrives Thursday PM.

Put another way, if there is a difficulty in the RAM upgrade more than 2 hours, they don't charge extra.  Oh the things we do to keep our computers working...  Well, cars aren't free either.  Neither is cable (but that's a future post).

*Sigh*