Seduced by the Glitz

I admit it, it was all my own fault. I fell for the glitz, glitter and charm, was badly hurt, and walked away sadder but wiser.

It all started when I fell in love with the iPad. Saw one, was wildly envious, and bought my own. However, it wasn't the iPad that brought me to grief. It was ... The Cloud.

Saw the commercials and decided this was the best thing since automatic shift. But alas, my Vista was unable to reciprocate. It was too old to partner with my new, young plaything. I decided to upgrade to Windows 8.

Stop! I hear the warning shouts, but it is too late. After 24 hours, I called Microsoft and begged them to release me. They did, but the experience left my old friend -- discombobulated. It had lost codecs and drivers and many of my old, familiar programs. 

I spent the next two weeks re-installing what I could and downloading updates. It could have been worse, but I did have my documents and pictures backed up in an external hard drive. That probably saved me from entering a convent. No, I couldn't do that, I'm married. Which reminds me of how my husband said the equivalent of  "I told you so," by muttering that he would never rush out and buy the Latest Thing until he'd read the reviews.

One of the things that went missing was my blog. Google refused to recognize my password and all entreaties to support went to deaf ears. If I couldn't remember what month and year I signed on to Google, they couldn't help me. Honestly, does anyone remember details like that? I can't even remember my ZIP code half the time.

So--three things: Back up your work on a disk, flash drive, external hard drive or even, yes, The Cloud. Or a neat site my son recommended, Drop Box (and it's free); don't buy something just because the commercials look great, read the customer reviews from people who have actually tried it out; and lastly, please sign on to be a follower again now that I am back.

Thank you!