I went to Sam's Club yesterday to get an external hard drive for a backup. On the clearance table was an HP computer with 7GB of RAM, significantly more than the 1GB I currently have. It was Vista, not Windows 7, but since I currently use Vista, I don't mind.
So now I have an external hard drive and a new computer, and I'm working on porting all my "stuff" over.
Update, 9/6/10: So I spent a lot of time yesterday doing a backup of the old computer and then setting up the new computer. An idea I had several years ago sure came into play--I had a folder called "Transfer files for a new computer", in which I stored installation files for the software I use. Moved that folder over, ran each of the programs, and voila! My "Program Files" folder started filling with software.
I also learned how to copy over the important web browser and email files, so that when I fired those programs up, everything was there: saved emails, mail filters, account settings, web bookmarks, etc. I made a text file explaining how to do these things and stuck that text file in my new "Transfer files for a new computer" folder.
I started deleting personal files off the old computer, and after awhile it started to get sluggish--and when I say sluggish, I mean sluggish--so I rebooted it. It wouldn't start up again, just like on Friday.
Good thing I responded so rapidly and aggressively to Friday's problem.
8 comments:
Darren....you're actually spending money...had the earth stopped revolving around da earth
Buy the Windows 7 upgrade, it's well worth it. W7 is far better than Vista.
For truly portable apps try portableapps.com. It's open source.
On a Mac, you connect the old computer to the new one and the computers work it all out amongst themselves. Once they're done, the new one has everything you had on the old one. Passwords, preferences, email, browser, look, feel, etc. No need to reinstall anything. The Way It Should Be.
Same thing if a hard drive crashes and you're backed up via TimeMachine. Never happened to me, but nice to know the backup is ready to go just in case.
There's a lot you give up with Macs, and I'm not willing to give it up--starting with the initial cost of the machine!
If you valued the time you spent chasing down all the troubles incumbent with your PC, you'd see that comparatively trouble-free Macs put you money ahead, despite the initial capital outlay. But feel free to stay PC; the Apple Store is already so crowded you can't find anyone to take your money when you want to buy something.
Part of the PC game is to offer a "complete" setup for a low price. Folks generally buy in then realize they need extra hardware and software to do what they really want to do. They wind up spending as much as they would have for an equivalent Mac. Macs are nicely turbocharged even in "base" configurations.
Some folks like working on computers as much/more than they like getting work done using the computer. So be it.
Because our district doesn't want to upgrade servers, they have limited what we can keep on the network. Graphics, such as digital images of student work, take up lots of room. So I have resorted to using flashdrives for everything. One is for Art I, one if for AP, and so on. That way, even if my district laptop gets taken away, I still have every document, powerpoint and presentation I have ever created.
I like the variety of software I can get, often freeware, that will do just about anything I want. Macs, because of their significantly smaller marketshare, don't have that luxury.
It's good that we are allowed to make such choices for ourselves, isn't it?
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