18 March 2014

Au secours ! Venez m'aider ! Je suis toujours en rade !

If you need me, you'll find me hovering over this evil-looking box, muttering venez m'aider — mayday! — or worse, under my breath. Talking to myself again...

I made one big mistake. Without noticing, I bought a computer that does not have integrated wifi. That means I need to use a USB wifi adapter, but the two that I have are incompatible with Windows 8.

Walt has a Windows 8 computer (a Dell) that has integrated wifi, and the adapter in his machine works fine. So I know that such adapters exist.

My other option is to downgrade the system to Windows 7, for which I have a license and therefore legal installation disks.

I have to take Bertie to the vet's this morning for his annual checkup and shots. There's a computer store close to the vet's office. I'll stop in there and see if they have a Windows 8-compatible adapteur I can buy. Meanwhile, I have a long wire running through the house to connect the computer to the router and give me an internet connection.

A part ça, tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise !

To all of you who commented on my post a couple of days ago about the importance of having a computer in good working order and shared your memories of the early days of personal computing, thank you. I sincerely intended to respond to your comments, but... well, you know.

14 comments:

  1. Ken, an alternative would be to buy a couple of the internet plugs/extenders that use the house wiring to connect you...
    two plugs...
    two SHORT lengths of RJ45 Ethernet cable.
    But they don't do 1000Mbs!!
    500 is the best...
    and costly in France!
    And not one running down the stairs...
    as I have to do here to connect this to the system when needed.
    We use this as an isolated machine.

    May your hair stay attached to your scalp during this trying period!!

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  2. so glad you got the new box! and tell Bertie to behave today - no biting!
    :-)

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  3. Tim's talking about CPL. I use them to hook up the tv box to the network. And Emma used one in her room when she was here because the wifi unit in her very old computer died. They work fine.

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  4. You've not thrown it out of the window yet? What patience! Good hunting for wifi doodad. P.

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  5. By now, you've probably got it all regulated. And, Bertie, too. Looking forward to the next update!

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    1. Judy and all, I'm making good progress this morning. I got the interface into English (French would be fine, but I'm used to English except for Photoshop, which I have with the French interface). Do you know how many control panel apps there are in Windows 8? Two or three dozen, probably. And trying to find them by their French names is frustrating when you're not used to it.

      The little computer store sold me a Netgear USB wifi adapter than is running fine so far. I'm connected and this afternoon I'll be able to take the ugly wire down.

      Next step: Install the old 750 GB hard disk and see if I can copy everything off it onto the new 1000 GB hard disk. That's the part I'm more nervous about because I don't want to lose anything.

      Ellen and Tim, I've never tried the CPL things. The way our house is built and configured, we do fine with wifi, normally.

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    2. One step at a time. I know heaven will have wifi- I love it so much. Good luck with the transfer, soon all this will be a not so good memory. Bon courage!

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  6. Let is know how you like Windows 8. I need to replace my desktop and have not been happy with what I have seen of 8.

    I run an external automatic backup drive (HP) that backs up without me needing to do anything. The last time my desktop failed, the hard drive went and took 11 months of photos with it.

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    1. Yes, multiple hard disks and backups are the only way to go. Un accident est si vite arrivé !

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  7. We all understand your frustration. "La mauvaise volonté des choses qui nous servent!" (The ill will of things that serve us!) would have said my grandmother!
    It is unconscionable in this day and age that computers would come without built in WiFi capabilities! It's akin to a telephone without a microphone or a bicycle without brakes! ACER is still in the 20th century?

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    1. I think I ended up buying a computer made for businesses where every office or cubicle is wired for ethernet connectivity. This morning, my local computer sold me an inexpensive USB wifi adapter that seems to do the trick. Ouf ! Time will tell.

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  8. I used to use a Netgear plug-in-able doo-hickey for my wi-fi, but it wasn't in the USB slot.... it was on my Dell, several years ago, and I had to install it in one of the slots inside the tower (then it had a little antenna that stuck out). It was extremely finicky and would lose connection constantly. I would certainly imagine that they have made improvements by now, so I'll be glad to hear if you have no problems. I just always assumed that I had done something wrong in setting it up, but later happened upon a forum discussion saying that people had lots and lots of problems with it because of something that made it incompatible. Grrr!

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    1. Judy, I have a memory of trying a Netgear router a few years ago and not being happy with it at all. So far the USB adapter is working fine. On verra...

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  9. Good luck finding the correct adapteur !

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