Hello from the depths of despair.

I just know that you are awaiting vacation pictures with baited breath. Everyone just LOVES someone else's vacation pictures, and I will bring you this pleasure soon, but first I have to load all the programs I used to have (and some are gone forever) that don't seem to want to play with Windows 8.  There are plenty of problems for me here.  New computer, new keyboard (and I am not a typist anyway), hitting keys that do things I don't want to happen, having the screen change for no apparent reason, and trying to remember those danged passwords as well as user names.

So far, I hate 8.  I wasn't a fan of 7; finally felt comfortable with XP, but here I am.  I think I will have to find a Windows 8 for Dummies to try to figure this OS out!

For those of you who, like me, live(d) in La-la land, PLEASE back up your files.  Your computer will fail.  It is as certain as our deaths.  So like I feel that death is for everyone else, my dear departed Dell was never going to die.  I could have those files stored there forever.  And if I wanted a new computer, I could ju st, as before, migrate my files onto a new computer.

Nope!  So lost are my family trees, my self made cookbook, my pictures of Simone, the kids, past vacations, etc all because I was so stupid.  Lost are those *&)(^ passwords because, if you find problems like me, you have to change them often.  Of course, when G retired and commanded the computer desk putting me here at the kitchen table, I didn't keep up with my "little black book" of passwords, and never had something ready to organize those new password..While I try to make them easy to remember, I don't remember who has which easy password.

Then it comes to downloading programs.  One of my dearest programs seems to not play with 8.  Not in it's present form.  Fortunately the software guru that wrote this program is easy to work with.  The problem with this program is that I loaded it from a CD that may be set up in an old format - because, after all, my Dell wasn't supposed to die.  I have emailed for help.

Please, please back up your computer. My Dell had survived a lot of bumps and jars.  When I dropped it, the distance was less that 6 inches.  I thought that was not going to be a problem, but after it happened,  I had a terrible feeling in my gut that that was the end.  Sure enough.  It was.

When I bought this one, the IT guy tried to migrate my files.  After two days he finally said he couldn't.  I asked my son if he knew any computer gurus.  They all are too busy.  But one thing they said was to not keep trying to get it going.  The less it runs, the better.  AND do not use the store's IT guy.  They don't know what they are doing and do more harm.  It can run upwards of $1000 to retrieve the files.

So alas,I have done everything wrong that could be wrong.  Use my stupidity to learn for yourself - and not the hard way.