Losing It

I have fallen behind the tech curve to keep up with some computer apps.  I may have to just give up and stop blogging.

Mac iPhotos has gone away and I need to go to the cloud.   I don't really have much idea what that is other than I have to go "somewhere else" to access my pictures.  

I've been a happy "cat-dad" for a couple decades.  I was able to switch from MS to Mac without major problems.  But Mac is getting kind of weird.  And I don't think I can switch back to MS.  I tried an MS computer 5 years ago and I couldn't make it do anything I wanted.  So it's a $1,000 doorstop.

I'll try to learn about "cloud", but I think my learning days are about done.  I have always been in total control of my computer and files, but I guess that is over now.  

OK, OK, I'm not good at quitting.  I'll try to learn about the "cloud" starting right after I post this.  But I think I;m not going to like it.

Computer Technology Issues

And for once, I don't mean mine.   I mean internet services and commercial computers.  I've been noticing more problems with both lately...

I shop at a grocery store that requires customer use of a touchscreen to pay.  First, the display always asks for donations.  It's irritating to have to deny a donation at every cash register in every store.  But I shop at the grocery store most often.

Sometimes I can't get the "No Thanks" notice to go away.  Tap the button with fingernail, fingertip and card corner and it stays for many tries.  I give directly to several charities, so I don't need the store to get a "cut" of what I donate.

Then I try to pay for my food.  The touchscreen offers tap, slide, and insert.  Tap almost never works.  Slide or Insert usually do. And my card offers all 3 options.  The cashier said they always have problems with Tap.  They didn't used to.

And the cashier's computer monitor shows different items than I bought.  The price is correct, but a peach is not a nectarine, and green leaf lettuce is not red leaf lettuce.  Well, if the price is the same, it doesn't matter too much.  

But sometimes I ask the produce manager why they have so much of one thing and not enough of a similar thing.  He says the store deliveries are based on the checkout data.  Given the inaccuracy of the checkout computer, I can easily see where their problem is.  Seriously, if their computer calls all peaches "nectarines", no wonder they have lots of nectarines and few peaches!

Outside at the store gas station (where I can use grocery-purchase points to get cheaper gas), the pumps no longer want to accept my store loyalty card half the time.  That it does work sometimes and not others means they have a tech problem.  

At a DIY store the other day, the card reader would not accept my card when inserted.  But it did when slide.  

This seems to be happening more and more often.  Are businesses just letting their technology fall behind to save money?  Are their profit-margins so tight that they have to let some things degrade to keep prices down?  I looked up my grocery store.  It had increased profits last year (and so far this year).

On the internet, Google has suddenly gotten worse about Blogger.  Suddenly for a week, when I want to upload images, it fails the first time, blanks the 2nd time, and usually works on a 3rd try.  Is it just me?  I stay updated on all software.

So it is something else.  Do they just not care, or are they just being careless about everything?  It seems to be happening everywhere I shop.

I'm not any sort of conspiracy-theorist.  Most problems are just people not doing jobs very well or getting overwhelmed by tech.  And I love tech!  It makes my world work.  But it feels like we are sliding downhill in some basics.

Do any of you have similar problems?

  

New Brother Printer, Part 2

 After a few good prints, the battery backup started screaming at me (only during printing) and nothing would print after.  I went crazy trying to figure out the sudden battery backup problem.  It didn't happen until I used the new Brother printer.

I did some internet searching.  I finally found a mention.  One single little sentence fixed my problem, but it was sure hard to find it.  "One little sentence" in a long list of trouble-shoots the site had me try!  

According to Brother, the printer can't be plugged into the same wall outlet or surge protector as the computer.  I'm no hardware guy, so the idea baffles me.  But when I finally did that "one little sentence" suggestion, everything worked!

It took 2 hours to get at that discovery, but I just printed a color picture and it worked with no battery backup problem.  

Computer problems can be horribly difficult sometimes, but research and persistence always seem to work eventually.  

All the equipment seems to be happy now.  I finally printed out this pic with no noise involved...

YAY!  😎

New Brother Printer

It's a doozie!  Model MFC-L 8905CDW.  Yeah, I splurged...   

But I can print in color again (and I assume scan and fax).  But it wasn't easy setting it up.  Not the printer's fault, I was just stupid and confused about a few things.  

First, let me say it is very early morning.  I couldn't sleep last night (too much sleep the day before).  So there I was in bed completely awake.  I got dressed and started a load of laundry.  And then I thought about The New Printer.  So I decided to install it.  Three hours later, it works.  And all the difficulties (except one) were completely my errors.

Second, let me say I bought a 1/8th" custom-cut plastic top for the computer desk 2 years ago (for easier cleaning) but never put it on because the (failed) canon printer was too damn heavy to move easily.  So I pulled the Canon off the deck (nearly killed me) and dumped it on the floor.  Moved all the other stuff to one side and lemon-pledged that.  Moved stuff again and did the other half.

I built the computer desk many years ago.  In fact, it is so old it has a slot for fanfold paper to come up from a box on a shelf underneath!  But it is sturdy and nicely finished, so I keep it.  With the old Canon printer off, I slid the plastic top halfway on, moved the smaller stuff onto it, and got it in place.  Looks lovely.

But guess what?  I can't lift the new Brother printer onto the desk!  It sits on the floor, which made plugging cables awkward and I think I'll need to keep it covered to protect it from cat furs.

So I read the startup instructions.  I say "read" but mostly it was just poor images I had to struggle to follow.  It came from China of course.  Pulled off all the packing tape.  Some packaging items were weird.  One part was like 12" of plastic that looked like part of the printer!

It was "oh that's what the drawing was about".  I went on like that for an hour.  Even some tape that looks like it should be removed apparently isn't.  😖

But I did get it properly unpacked.  Then "load paper".  OK, that wasn't a problem.  Next, plug in the printer.  Did that into the battery backup surge suppresser.   For fax capability, I had to connect a phone cord to the router.  On my back with a flashlight.  Struggled for a few minutes.

Finally came to "connect the printer to your computer".  Should be easy, right?  No, that took another hour.  The printer came with a CD for connecting.  It didn't work.  Apparently, my CD is too old.  There was a download site.  That drove me crazy.

The printer was plugged in and connected to the computer.  But nothing happened.  I pressed the on/off power button a few times.

Oops, wrong button!  I finally found the actual power button (unlit little dark circle).  And when I pressed that, the printer made a screaming noise!  I went through several iterations of on/off (saying "bad words" frequently).  

I finally went back under the desk with my flashlight and pulled out the power plug.  I had it in a non-backup outlet and it seems the printer didn't like that.  It stopped screaming at me  after I changed some plugs around to give it a battery back-up outlet.  😣

Keep in mind that the CD didn't work, so I was at a Brother help website...

And then the instructions said to connect the printer to the computer.   I wrote down the menu sequence.  It didn't work.  Drove me nuts.  Then I finally realized I hadn't actually plugged the printer into the computer!   I should be shot for "computer malfeasance".  😢

Hurray, the computer recognized the printer!  I printed out a nice color version of

If you work hard and long enough, sometimes things work!

Computer Printer

 I've given up on my Canon color toner printer.  I called Canon Help, and after long hold got a really helpful techie.  We tried all sorts of software fixes, but none worked.  And as I was asked to send a couple of screens by email, we got disconnected.

Second call got me referred to some place where no one knew his name.  But this guy was a hardware expert.  Said the "assembly fixture" was broken.  And "couldn't be fixed".  So, essentially, I have a 40 pound doorstop.

I have a closetful of old non-functioning computer equipment.  This is now just another piece that I should just recycle.  

He recommended several Canon printers.  But I did some research (Consumer Reports, some techie sites).  I ordered a Brother 

MFC‐L8905CDW Business Color Laser All‐in‐One Printer, 7” Touchscreen Display, Duplex Print/Scan, Wireless, White.  $700.  But sometimes you just want "the best".  It will arrive in 2 days.

Yay, I should be able to make Christmas cards again!  But mostly, I will be able to scan/copy/fax/color print again.

Sometimes, you have to "pay to play"!

Computer Madness And Success

 I was using an old laptop last year.  There were problems.  Several keys came loose, the battery died.  I read that both together would probably cost more than a new cheap one.  And about all I was doing with it was using it in front of the TV to visit other cat blogs.

So I bought a new cheap (simple) one.  And I couldn't get it to connect to my Wi-Fi.  OK, it decades past, I was a techie.  But tech slipped past me.  I have trouble with my smartphone (I can't figure out how to navigate to where I want).  So I couldn't get the new laptop to connect to my Wi-Fi account.

One suggestion I read was to bring the laptop closer to the router.  Yesterday, I did that.  It didn't help a bit!  But at least I had both my desktop and the laptop in the same room and could look up stuff on the desktop about the laptop.  

What I found by desktop computer internet queries suggested I was failing getting the laptop connected because I didn't have a WPA2  password.  I had no idea what that was.

Searches described WPA2 but didn't help much.  I'm sure what that is, is obvious to many of you, but it sure wasn't to me.  

Most sites said that if you lost your Wi-Fi password (and I didn't even know I needed or had one), you had to either connect your laptop to the router with a Ethernet cable or completely re-establish your router.  My laptop does have any such port and I definitely didn't want to mess with my router settings!

So. on my desktop, I kept querying about WPA2 in various ways.  For a couple hours (I am persistent) I tried various fixes.  None worked or suggested the "reset router" option.

And then I found a reference on a Mac discussion forum that said that the router comes with a model number and password usually located on the bottom.  OK, I'm not all that agile these days, and the cables are pretty tight.  So it was difficult get at the bottom of the router and I needed a flashlight to read it.  

But there was a model number of the router and there was an original password.  I thought I had changed that for general security.  But when I typed in the original router password to the laptop Wi-Fi query, it WORKED!  Wi-Fi was working.  I don't care why it worked.

I danced around the room, I went out and gave The Mews treats (real ones, not just kibble).  I danced around the living room!

And then I went back to the computer room.  There were browsers to download.  There were some bookmarks to add.  I use Duck Duck Go on most (they don't track queries of send ads).  I got Feedly on the Chrome browser (it seems to work best for me there).

Some things were complicated.  My laptop doesn't even have a port for a flashdrive, so I couldn't even copy bookmarks from the desktop to the laptop.  It just has a power port and 2 very small ports.  I think they are Micro HDMI type D or Mini Display Port.  I can't tell by just looking at the images of them.

I have to laugh.  I have a bucketful of various cables and adaptors, but never the right ones.

But the laptop reaches the internet now, and that's all I care about.  I'll explain why that's all I care about on the laptop next post...

Good News, Bad News

 The Good News is that the Washington Commanders football team (9-5) beat the Philadelphia Eagles (11-2)  in the last minute of the game 36-33.  Yay!  😲

And I got my computer backup program working again. 

The Bad News is that after 6 hours struggling with the computer and downloading everything I could find, the damn printer still won't print in color.  😢. Time to have an expert visit (the printer weighs about 50 pounds and I can't lift that anymore).

And I still can't make the "search" function work for Photos either.  👎. I'll have the expert look at that too.

It's only 10 PM, but I want to just feed The Mews and then crawl into bed...

Can't ManageThe Mac

 I can't deal with new Mac Sequoia OS problems.  Reverting to the previous Sonora OS may delete much of my current files.  And I'm just getting P/O about the whole computer thing.  I can't even upload photos.  So I may be gone for a while.

If and when I figure it out, I'll be back.

Mark

Reading is FUNdamental

I hate computer updates, I really do.  Sure, if not for them, I would be back in 2000.  But they become so constant and every change makes some favorite app not work right.   Every Firefox or Safari update (about once a week each) means I have to create a new password or lengthen the existing one for my AOL email accounts.

And dammit, even with my accounts printed out on legal size paper and double-spaced, I run out of room and I have silly arrows pointing all over the place to wherever there is room!  Don't worry about my security though.  I have a stand-alone computer for a couple obsolete computer games and I keep my password spreadsheet on that.  Unhackable.

But what got my knickers in a knot today was Mac Photos.  The newest upgrade from Sequoia 15.1 to 15.2  "upgrade" (you will only understand that if you have a Mac) completely changed my camera-to-computer upload procedure.  I went nuts trying to get pictures off my camera yesterday for hours.  

I thought the problem was Photos.  Nothing I tried fixed that.  So I thought it was Sequoia 15.2 which had just been upgraded.  Looking for a new Photos version that worked with it got me nowhere.  The instructions for ways to revert to Sequoia 15.1 were beyond my ability.

And I will add that restarting the computer, shutting it on and off, and looking for "patches" got me nowhere.  So I shut the computer off and went shopping (eyeglass repair, DIY store) just to clear my mind.

When I returned (fed The Mews, cleaned the litterboxes) I went at it again.  And trust me, when cleaning the litterboxes is better than struggling with the computer, you know you have a problem.  

But then the great Spirit of Christmas descended upon me!  I saw a single line in a 4 page help article that referred to "device in the sidebar".  Curious, I went back to Photos and searched around.  And I found the word "device" in a drop-down menu.  Clicking on it, I found "camera".

The good part is that everything worked again.  The mean part is that Mac/Google were trying SO hard to get me on ICloud in a Google-controlled account instead of just letting me manage my little photo world myself.  Sometimes, I feel like a small mouse with a tiny mace fighting a Bobcat!

But I beat them again!

  --------

Allow me an admission.  My favorite baseball player of all time is Pete Rose.  Yeah he bet on games.  But as a player, he was everything I ever tried to be.  His nickname was "Charlie Hustle".   He did his best on every at-bat or fielding effort.  Mickey Mantle once related a story about the first time he saw Pete Rose in the outfield.  Mantle said something like "I hit a homer that was 50' over the wall.  And this new kid climbed the wall trying to catch it.  We called him 'Charlie Hustle' after that".  He always ran hard in a sure out, launched himself at every fly ball he could not possibly reach, and played every day as if it was his last.  I think he once said that he would pay to play baseball.

I understand him everytime I play a game or tackle a computer problem.  Sometimes it isn't skill, but determination.  Perseverance counts too.  Sorry, I didn't mean to talk about myself, it just went from the brain to the keyboard...

  ----------

There were only 5 pics on the camera, but 3 were so weird...  I woke up yesterday and thought my neighbors had put a row of fake owls on their roof-ridge to scare away pest birds. But then one of them moved!  And I realized it was a whole row of vultures!

I love taking pictures of The Mews of course, but THIS is really why I have a camera...  For the things that you can never even imagine could happen...

Taxes

I filed for a tax filing extension back in April.   My H&R Block software did my Federal return, but the State software kept saying "network connection not found".  I couldn't solve that.  And there was no way I was going to call the H&R Help Center 2 days before the April filing deadline!

So I filed for an extension and sent the IRS $5,000 to cover possible extra tax required.  Every month after, I tried to solve the "network connection lost" problem.  It was baffling.  But by early September, I could put it off any longer and I decided it was safe to call the H&R Block Help Center without being on a 2 hour waiting list.

An agent come online in about 20 minutes later.  The agent said network problems were not really their problem.  I pointed out that the Federal return software did not show that problem, nor did I have that problem anywhere else.  I pointed out that we were both looking at my account over the internet, so there was obviously a "working network connection".

So she agreed there had to be an H&R Block problem.  After 20 minutes of trying various solutions, she said, why not try re-installing our software?  I was worried I would lose the Federal return.  She said that the Federal return was saved under a different name (which I knew but hadn't thought about) and that the re-installed software would know what file to look for.

So I did.  And the Federal return was still there and the State return form seemed suddenly perfectly happy with my network connection.  I thanked her and hung up.

So I proceeded with the State return.  This is where things get bad...

I won't go into details about my taxes, but I have stocks, bonds, and a Government Savings Account (called the TSP if you know what that is).  My stocks and bonds are all Index Funds and some portion of those have some foreign investments, which complicate things.  I have no control over the Index Fund investment choices.  Plus, the TSP requires that I withdraw a portion of my savings from it each year now that I'm older than 72.

I hadn't known that in 2023, so they forcibly sent me 2 checks since then.  I had included one on my Federal return, forgetting about the 2nd.  So I had to adjust my Federal return in the software.  Did that, and shut down for the night.

The next day, my Federal return was blank!  Nowhere to be found.  I have no idea why.  Even my backup program (Time Machine) is acting weird.  I tried to recover the Federal return using that, but failed.  Each time I open a date, it sends me back to "choose a date". 

ARGHHH!

If I was 50, I could probably solve this.  I think I have to just redo the Federal return.  Fortunately, I have all the previously-printed tax forms, so it won't be like starting from scratch.  And then I can do the State return.  I have until October 15, so I will sort out the 3 different versions of the Federal return (as I said, I found errors before I mailed them) tomorrow and go from there.

But I think this is my last year using tax software (unless the Govt provides a better one).  Next year, early March, I will just take all my forms to a tax-preparer and say "tell me what I owe" and have them file the returns!  

This has finally become just too hard!

Computer Problems

I had sme real frustrations 2 days ago.  I was talking to my Credit Union about online access.  They keep shutting off my password if I don't visit enough enough.  Well, I woukld think they would be happy that I don't bother them often, but I suppose that means I don't see the loan offers (that I never ever bother using).

But in the middle of the call, KERBLAM!!!  Out of nowhere, thunder and lightning directly overhead in the same instant...  Then torrents of rain (which The Weather Channel did not predict).

I have a battery backup surge protector of course but that was too much for it and it shut down.  An hour later, it all stopped.  But I couldn't reach any internet sites.  The TV worked, so I hadn't lost my cable service.  Restarting the computer several times didn't work.  Shutting down and restarting didn't help.

Somewhere, there is a "take service online" menu choice, but I couldn't find it.  So I just left everything shut down

Yesterday, I tried everything again.  No luck.  Then I remembered about disconnecting and reconnecting the router.  That finally worked.  👍

I happened to look outside while waiting, and saw the rain gauge.  2.25"!  In about 1 hour!  Well, that should keep the grass and shrubs happy for a while.  But it was worrisome for a while.  I was afraid the computer was fried.

Taxes

 It was gruesome!  Not because I couldn't do them, but because all the computer stuff was "off".

Last December, the laser printer stopped printing in color.  I haven't solved that yet.  But last week, it stopped printing at all.  Just kept saying "load paper".  Which I did without it working after.  And just before tax time of course.

I use H&R Block software (for about 10 years).  Never a problem.  I just check off boxes and add a few numbers (and they are very good saying "enter number in box 1A here").  And that sure helps.  I have index stocks, and (for example) one question is "foreign taxes paid".  Like I have any idea what that really means.  But they do.  So I go to the my index fund site and they tell my a number.  I add that to H&R.  

At the end, they do a review for inconsistencies.  If there are any, they send me to the place to review the numbers.  If not, my taxes are done and I just hit "print".  I like to send printed tax forms; it's just easier in some ways.

But here's the problem.   As I mentioned, my printer stopped working.  And H&R Block software said I had no internet connection.  Which was ridiculous.  I had just downloaded the software on the internet, I got an email confirmation security code from them, and my email is working just fine.

But I couldn't get to their help site online "no internet connection", according to them.  So I couldn't finish my tax forms, couldn't ask for help, and I couldn't even print out a filing extension form!  The printer call number said queue was an hour at best.  And I tried that one before with no success.  H&R was worse.  Not even a guess as to wait time.

I spent the entire past few days trying to fix problems.  It's maddening.  Trouble-shooting company sites send you around in circles.

But I finally solved the immediate B&W printer problem so I could at least print out the tax extension request forms from direct Federal and State sites.

That was only because it finally occurred to me to download the printer manual and search it.  Sure enough, it solved the problem.  Not that it was easy.  The manual addresses several models and even for my own, the displays didn't exactly match the instructions.  

Part of the problem is that my Canon printer can be used as a network printer and the defaults are set for that.  Stuff like needing a network ID and "secure printing".  Undoing all that was a real bad day!  The settings are so individual-unfriendly, you even have to specify the weight and brightness of the paper!  I suppose that makes sense on an office network where everything stays the same.  But sometimes I buy cheap paper.  

I did get that all undone.  But why did it work so well for 4 years and then suddenly stop?  Probably an update aimed at office network printers...

I hope I never have to do it again.  But the joy I felt when seeing a short document print out was HUGE!    

JOY!  DANCING!  GLEE!

Now I just have to get the color working again..  But B&W was enough to print the tax extension due-date forms, and that gets me time to deal with H&R Block software problems.

Still, I had to send Federal and State checks.  I had 2 forced withdrawals from my Govt Thrift Saving Plan and didn't anticipate that.  So I owe more than usual.  But the TSP  told me; I just didn't realize the tax consequences.

Live and learn.  But at least I solved a couple of computer problems.  That deserves a steak dinner.  And I don't care if it is actually 11 pm just before I have this post scheduled for "tomorrow", I'm going to cook one and eat it watching some superhero movie!  I'll catch up on the veggies tomorrow.

Feeling good...

Won One Against AOL

When I had email from Verizon, they were happy to grant me 3 email addresses.  I used one for ME, one for The Mews and one for my forum discussions.  When Verizon dumped us onto AOL, AOL wanted only one email per user.  It was supossed to be "identical service", but of course it was not.  I figured out how to get 2, but not the forum one.  I figured that out today, LOL!

It's one per browser...  I had the main email set up on Safari and I discovered I could set up The Mews on Firefox without AOL noticing.

But I'm so stupid, I didn't think about trying Chrome until last night.  It sort of works, but it shows all my emails to me.  Took me all night to get that far.  I'll work on that in a couple days.  Right now, I'm pretty much damn worn out.  I'll take my paltry 1/2 victory and go with it for now.  LOL!  At least I can get gardening emails again...

Does everyone else have to struggle this much?  I feel so damn stupid sometimes. 

A Minor Computer Win

1.  I bought a color toner printer 2 years ago.  I don't print often, so the old color ink-jet printer cartridges dried up before being used up.  And at $50 for a whole set of cartridges was annoying.  I read that toner lasts forever, so I bought one.

It has been difficult to use.  Apparently, it is intended for multiple user office use.  I did not know that at the time.  It has many functions and setting designed for office use and you almost have to be an IT person to understand them.  Just getting it to merely print seemed like an insult to it.

I succeeded (sometimes, after struggling), but never knew why.  A few days ago, I wanted to print out my vaccine record (flu, covid and others) from a govt website.  I could NOT make the darn printer print.  I searched all over the commands and settings, to no avail.  

But I noticed one setting that said "network".  I unclicked it.  IMMEDIATELY, it printed out my document. Glory and Hallelujah,  all I had to be was just "myself and no other users".   Two years fighting with it and one click solved it all!

2.  I have a really nice keyboard (dasKeyboard).  The letters seem slightly embossed.  I wear out certain letters on standard keyboards fast, so I appreciate that.  But it uses 2 ports and I struggle with that.  I have an added multiport connector

Not this one, but one like it...  Even that didn't allow all my cables.  But it works for devices not used all at the same time.  So I unplugged the 2 port keyboard from the direct computer connection and moved it to the multi-port.  Obviously, it worked.  And I even (somehow) have a free port.  I haven't figured out the "why" of that yet.

But Yay!  😎

Two problems solved in one day.  Now, if I could get Safari autofill to work, I would be thrilled...

Printing Passwords

My printer is trying to drive me crazy!

All I wanted to do was set up my user names and passwords safely.  And to me, that means beyond "password managers".  I'm kind of primitive.  I like mine completely offline.   So I set up a spreadsheet on my old offline Mac (used for some old games I like) and printed them from there years ago.

Over the course of time, there have been many password changes and my scribbled changes finally became unusable.  There is just "so much" space on a page and "so many" arrows you can draw to the new ones.  And most of the sites were old or no longer visited.

So I decided to redo it all.  First. legal size paper gave more columns.  Second, wider rows give more room for written changes.  Setting up the spreadsheet was easy.  Filling it in was easy.  I got rid of a decade of scribbles and 2/3s of the sites I visited.  And using the Excel sort function (A-Z) made them easier to find.

But I still had to print the spreadsheet.  My old color inkjet printer cartridges were all dried up.  So I had to move the spreadsheet to the online Mac.  Naturally, I disconnected the internet connection before moving the saved spreadsheet to the Mac with the laser printer.  There isn't much point in saving passwords if you allow the file to be stored online!

Computers hate me.  The flashdrive wouldn't load in the newer (temporarily offline) Mac for 30 minutes.  I tried everything.  Finally got it to be recognized after enough restarts.  Made sure the spreadsheet was still legal size paper settings and one-sided printing (my Mac is convinced I want 2-sided printing by default).  

And it wouldn't print!  Well, OK, I didn't know where to stick legal sized paper in.  This laser printer is new to me.  I only bought it because the color toner doesn't dry up like color inkjet cartridges do.  Actually, it does "too damn much".  There are 3 places to put paper, and the display menu is designed for a genius (which I am not).  And there were a couple of odd pieces of plastic with it that I didn't know the purpose of. 

A Surprise Computer Fix, Part 2

So, yesterday, I ended by saying my Apple email wasn't showing old or new emails.  AOL was allowing my Cavebear account just fine but not Marksmews (cats) or Yardenman (gardening).  I like separated and themed user names...

I decided to figure out passwords to try and get my email of those 2 in AOL.  They have been unhelpful in the past, so I didn't even bother calling them.  I looked up stuff on the net.  That is always difficult.  I'm not a beginner, but not an expert either.  I live in the awkward world where I have an idea what experts are telling me but not understanding all the instructions.  Experts assume "some things".  Like what the heck is a "kernal panic"?

But I did get enough to try setting up AOL email accounts.  One site told me the locations within AOL to look at email accounts.  Another suggested way to establish a new password.  None of them worked immediately, but I kept trying some of them.  All failed.  Everytime I tried a new account, I got my Cavebear account login on Safari.

I opened Firefox and tried the same things.  I actually got a different sign-in page!  I entered my Mark's Mews email address and searched around.  I found a place for re-setting a password.  It asked some security questions.  That was difficult'

I have my accounts and passwords on paper (no one can hack THAT).  But over the years, I have scribbled notes of changes and drawn lines to new passwords, etc.  Its a MESS!  I really have to update the Excel spreadsheet of those (its on a standalone computer).  But I found enough in the scribbles to answer the security questions.

I was shocked to discover that AOL had that data and allowed me to establish a new password for Marksmews email account.  But it said I had to restart my computer.  OK, I can do that, and did. 

The Marksmews email account didn't show up in Safari, but it did in Firefox.  I have NO idea why.  But there (Oh happily there) was the Marksmews email account ON AOL.  Previous discussions with AOL agents said that was not possible without a standard monthly fee.  On my screen, there was no mention of a fee.  I am assuming they lied about that.

And when I opened the MarksMews email account on Firefox in AOL (my Cavebear account is bookmarked on Safari), all the old emails and the new 10 days of emails all showed up!  Among them were the notifications from Chewy about my autoship.  So they were not to blame.  

I bookmarked it on Firefox.  I closed Firefox.  I reopened it on Firefox.  The email account shows up in AOL!  I sent emails back and forth to myself.  It worked.  I got one account solved.

Something successful every day is good...

A Surprise Computer Fix, Part 1

Yeah another computer post.  But this time, an interesting and unexpected fix.

 Two things happened.  First, I received an unexpected autoship shipment of cat food from Chewy.  I am supposed to get an email from them advising me of an upcoming autoship (in case I want to cancel or change it).  I did not get an email about that.  I was kind of upset because there were a few flavors The Mews don't love and I didn't receive a notification email in order to change that.

I thought about how that might occur.  First, maybe Chewy had accidentally duplicated the previous order.   Second, since I had been delaying autoship orders the past few months (I get damaged cans), they had sent stuff to keep me as a customer.

The actual reason didn't occur to me at first....  I had 3 email accounts with Verizon once.  I read them all EASILY using Apple Mail.  They sold all their email accounts to AOL with a promise they would all be maintained for free (as it was on Verizon).   

It hasn't been a good experience.  AOL hates people having multiple email accounts.  My Cavebear account (the general one) works fine on AOL (probably because I transferred that one first.  AOL has fought me tooth and nail over the Marksmews and Yardenman accounts.  They want a monthly "support fee" for each (and it was, as I said) supposed to be free.  But I could still receive emails to those (but not send or reply from them.

So, having the new computer mostly working (some apps needed upgrades due to the new non-Intel chip) and some few apps and files just wouldn't migrate (mostly fixed now), I looked at the email accounts.  I discovered that the migration to the new computer stopped my Apple mail MarksMews and Yardenman accounts.  

I could see previous MarksMews emails, but not after April 27th.  Worse, the next day, all the old emails were gone.  As if my Apple mail accounts never existed.  It was only a week, so I hadn't realized that there were no new ones.  That sometimes happens.

And then it struck me that Chewy probably had send a notification of impending autoship, but the emails weren't showing up.  I'll stop here for now.  People get bored reading about computer problems in general and this is getting too long anyway.

More tomorrow...

The Computer

Its working, but it wasn't for 3 days at first and I was going nuts.   There is bad news at first, but good news at the end, so keep reading.  

It arrived last week.  I made sure my Time Machine backup had the latest version of the old computer.  Went through the migration process.  Answered all the questions along the way.  Recorded all information it suggested.  It took 9 hours.

Migration is supposed to retain all settings.  For the most part, it did, but for some things it did not.

When the migration process was ended, it said to restart the computer.  That made sense, restart incorporates the old into the new.

When it came back up, it wanted my admin password.  I know my admin password.  But it wouldn't accept it.  I struggled with that the entire next day.  No luck.  The new computer software wouldn't recognize me.  

Hooking my old computer back up, I researched "recover admin password".  By design for security, that is not easy to do, but I did find some instructions about it.  Sadly, none of them made much sense to me (too technical and in terms I didn't understand).  I mean, seriously, "kernal panic"?

I set up the new computer again and tried to follow the recovery instructions.  No luck

I tried sleeping the computer, I tried restarting it, I even unplugged the router to reset it after 2 minutes.  Nothing helped.

I set up the old computer again (which, perversely, seemed to be working fine and made sure I had a new backup.  I disconnected it and set up the new one.  I erased the internal hard drive.  I reinstalled the backup.  No luck.  The new computer would simply not accept my admin password.

I shut it down again.  Let's just say "bad words abounded in the house...

The next day, I started it up again to try and do "safe recovery mode" and other things recommended.  But I tried the same old admin password again first (why not?) and it was accepted!  I have no idea why it was now and not before.

But the new computer is working.  It's not perfect.  I lost all autofills, but I will restore them gradually.  Good news is that it hasn't auto-restarted.  It doesn't get hot in sleep mode.  It wakes up immediately.  It seems to send and receive quickly.  All my bookmarks, files, email and photos are present.  

Time to see if I can FINALLY be able to leave comments on blogs again.  That is the last test and something I have missed doing.  

Persistence

 I sometimes don't realize how frustrating computers are to others.  Some people are skilled at them; the hardware or the apps parts.  Some people just have to live with the frustrations.  I'm in the middle, I think.

I know enough to try.  Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail.  That may be the most maddening of all.  I sometimes think it would be better to know most all of it or less of it. The first is very helpful and the 2nd pretty much lets you just "accept".

The middle means you struggle constantly.  Knowing what to do is like killing the wolf at the door with a gun.  Not knowing is like just accepting things and throwing a steak at the wolf.  Being in the middle is like just having a knife against the wolf.

*Sigh*

This time, I had to accept the wolf.  I can't wait for the new computer.  It will "probably" solve most problems.  Probably...  I won't know until it gets here and I set it up.  I'm hoping it is a hardware problem, fearing it may not be.  

I both love and hate computers.

Bad Day April 3

Sorry, everyone.  I got SO frustrated with the existing computer.  I kind of "lost it" suddenly a few days ago.

It was weird.  The computer had mostly stopped the frequent restarts, but then suddenly got very hot (some heat before for weeks but HOT recently.  I was also noticing that more original-size photos were disappearing from my Photo app.  

I went through an entire "restore" from my Time Machine backup from 2 weeks previous.  It took about 9 hours and I had to be there to answer a few dumb questions (like, "do you wish to continue"?). 

I got the computer "restored".  But I had lost the photos I had taken after that date.  Fortunately, I was able to import them back from a later backup.  It almost makes no sense, but it does really.  I needed the restore from mid-March to avoid some problems, but the newest backup processed photos were OK.  I keep the full-sized photos in Photo, and the smaller (cropped an light-adjusted) ones in a separate set of folders'

The full-sized Photo files (about 1.5-5 MB) are for quick viewing "all at once".  The processed ones (100-300 KB) are for posting.  Both have some value.

It occurs to me that, with a bit of tedious work, I can recover the missing Photo pics (at smaller size) back to Photos.  They look about the same regardless of size.  There are many I would love to have easier access too in Photos.

But they weren't the cause of the problems I have been having.  They were annoying.  What made me snap and shut down the computer and pull out all the cables in anger was the difficulty in commenting on the cat blogs.  And not being able to do that became maddening.

I felt I was just "one-way", receiving comments but not sending them.  Once in a while, they would get through but mostly they wouldn't.  It was either some old apps on my end or the computer was dying.

I gambled on increasing the RAM a few months ago.  That didn't help.  I tried shutting down the computer between uses.  That cooled it off, but didn't really solve anything long-term.  A Mac Mini is intended to be left on in "sleep mode".

I decided to replace it, and that was annoying.  For the price of going from 8 RAM to 16 RAM AND having a technician come out to install it, I could have bought a renewed one from Amazon that would surely have lasted a couple of years.  

But that is spilled milk, water under the bridge, water over the dam, etc. 

I checked Amazon.  For my habits and purposes, I wanted a 1 TB, 16 RAM, Intel 5 or 7 chip, and plenty of ports.  And I was tired of "renewed".  They didn't have one new.

So I went to Apple directly, expecting a hideous price.  To my surprise, I found exactly what I was looking for new and found their prices are more reasonable than they used to be.  Competion is good.

So I will have a new Mac Mini computer April 21-15.  The only difference is that it will have the new Apple M1 chip instead of an Intel.  Well, it must work or they couldn't sell it (famous last words).  I may have to change some apps.  I hope I can still manage to do that.

Meanwhile, I will spend some time importing processed photos back in the Mac Photo app, clean out old docs and gifs, and read friends' cat blogs until I can comment again. 

I HOPE!