It's been a rather stressful week, computer-wise. First, my printer would not print in black. I did not realize at that time that this condition is rather common. It is a Hewlett Packard printer, and I was not only having trouble with printing, but other things were going wrong, too. So, I contacted the Hewlett Packard tech support. While 'Tina' in India was diagnosing my problem, she found what she described as a vulnerability on my computer. She suggested that some kind of file had been downloaded, and malware had 'hitch-hiked' into my hard drive and was causing all kinds of problems. She remotely worked with my computer, and asked me if I cared if she called in a third party to help me get it cleaned up. Since I had contacted HP, and this gal worked for them, I was not worried especially about them working on it, but when she quoted me the price of nearly $400.00 to get things fixed, and to provide me with 1 year of protection against future attacks, I balked! I emailed my computer-savy daughter and son, and asked them what they thought. Both of them felt that the quoted price was too high.
So, David stopped at the computer store in our nearest city and asked them if their techs could fix it. They offered a plan that fixed the computer and gave it protection for 2 years for about half the price quoted by HP. Well, that would have been okay, but my printer was the reason I first contacted HP in the first place, and the computer geeks at the computer store might not be able to solve that problem anyway.
We had a good friend here on Saturday, and he spent part of the afternoon doing what he could do to get it working properly, and he installed some adware and malware protection. But, my printer still would not print correctly. So, Sunday I contacted Hewlett Packard once again. I had tried to clean off the print heads with alcohol as was suggested, and it did clean off a lot of black ink. I also watched several online videos that offered ways to clean the print heads, and even on some machines told how to remove the print cartridge carriage so you could rinse out the screens the ink goes through, which can get plugged. But, nothing I did worked, and my printer did not have a removable cartridge carriage.
Back to HP's tech support I went. I contacted them by email, and got someone to call me. They did a similar search of my computer remotely, and told me there was still a threat from malware on it. Then, that gal gave me a quote of $99.00 to install a program so their tech team could clean up the computer. She also quoted me a price of $149.00 for them to do the complete cleaning and give me a 1 year protection coverage. She assured me that they would remove the bad files that remained and would make my computer safe from any future attacks, plus I would have 1 year of tech support. So, I decided I needed to do that, and bought their plan. It took them a long time to get my computer cleaned because the Internet connection kept getting interrupted. But, finally they did get it all done, and everything was cleaned of the 32,000 files and problems they found (yes, I saw the list!)
The computer was running well, but I still could not print in black! So, this morning I contacted Hewlett Packard again, and had them check my printer remotely. Their diagnosis was that the printer needed to be replaced since it is out of warranty. They offered a 'reconditioned' printer similar to my machine, and quoted a price of $65.00 plus tax. They also offered a 2-year extended warranty for another $19.00 plus tax, which would give me 3 years of guaranteed support. I decided that with all the printing I do in making photos from scrapbooks, I really need a good, reliable printer. So, I made the deal. The new printer will arrive in a few days, they will send a mailing label so I can send them my old printer, and I will be back in business.
So, I've ended up spending just about as much as HP first suggested, and I guess I'm not too upset. David and I agreed that I need my computer and my printer, and would not be happy without them. I got emails with all the important information about the plan I bought, and my printer will be coming shortly.
Since neither David nor I are very good at solving our own computer problems, and my kids who might be able to help are either too far away, or too busy to spend hours and hours messing around with my computer issues, we decided this is the best solution.
I did some grocery shopping today, and I had a coupon for $50 from an office chair I had bought in Waterloo which broke so that I could not use it any longer (that chair has since been replaced). I used the coupon to get myself an ergonomic keyboard because the flat, cheap one that came with my computer had lost the print off of the keys so it was hard to tell which key represented which letter (unless you took time to think of the qwerty arrangement...) and the keys had always been very hard to push down, so that they often actually got 'stuck' and then the wrong key often was struck... I spent 30 years typing at a newspaper office, so that kind of poor response to my fingers absolutely drove me nuts.
Now, I have a very nice, comfortable and responsive keyboard in front of me, and I'm becoming accustomed to the different way my hands sit while typing on it. The keys do not stick, and I think I'm really going to like this keyboard. Plus, it was less than $40.00, so I still have a $10 coupon to use at the store!
I am ready to move on with my life...and hope that once my printer arrives I can get back to regular work on the computer, and other activities in my life!
A little less cash in the bank, but a much more reliable office set-up. And...a much more relaxed and happy lady at our house!
Tomorrow we may be out in the nice weather, brushing a new coat of stain on our deck. I will be very glad to have that job done. I have several planters that will fasten onto the deck railing that are filled with pretty flowers, and I bought some more flowers today (HyVee had a special that if you spent $25 on flowers, they gave you a six pack of A & W rootbeer...so we've got that in the little beverage fridge downstairs...and will enjoy having them this weekend when David's siblings are here for dinner.)
So, folks, stay calm, and carry on!
So, folks, stay calm, and carry on!
No comments:
Post a Comment