 Number 240 - May 2003 |
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| How Stuff Works Outside the Lines | |
| by Carla S. Cawlfield, HAL-PC | |
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So! You Got a New Computer!
Accidents in the home cause people. - Grandma Throughout the history of personal computers, adding a new one to your family has usually been as painful as giving birth. Just like a baby, you await its arrival with a lot of happy anticipation and a wee bit of worry. Acquiring a kid or a computer should take some prior thought, you have to be careful, and there is a long education curve. Just about the time you think you have it figured out, it's time for a new one. Just like kids. Over the years, I have put in service probably a dozen or so home computers. With the exception of a laptop and an original Compaq portable, all were clones built to my specifications by local computer vendors. I always bought top-of-the-line equipment, paid a lot for it, and kept it in service for years and years. Many units became hand-me-downs to other family members. Recently, I had the experience of putting into service store-bought, pre-packaged units for a family member, hereinafter known as Grandma. For test parameters, I put on my 75-year-old non-technie user hat that I use for all reviews. The question is, Can Grandma do this? Here is my tale. Hardware Info Computer A has a 1.7Ghz P4 Intel processor, 512 meg of RAM, 60 Gig hard drive, V.90 modem, 10/100 Ethernet card, GeForce video, sound, 52X CD, 16X CD-RW, and other stuff. Computer B has a 1.1Ghz Intel Celeron processor, 128 meg of RAM, 20 Gig hard drive, V.90 modem, mediocre video and sound, 52X CD-ROM, and other stuff. Neither of these are intended as game machines, but Grandma just might decide to get hooked on Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds. All I did was follow the directions on a large, 5 step Quick Set-up chart. It had me plug in the color-coded cables, and push the On button on the front. Grandma can do this. Operating System Both machines booted up flawlessly and quickly. Both of these are Windows XP Home Edition. Both came with the operating system pre-loaded and with only Emergency System Recovery CDs included in the box. No copy of the Operating System on a CD I can put in my software library. Since I am old and set in my ways, that's a little disconcerting. Every computer I have ever owned has had a Microsoft operating system that has required reloading on numerous occasions to straighten out various system deteriorations. Also, I have nothing I can hold in my hand if the software piracy police come calling. Oh yes, there is a Microsoft holographic sticker on the outside of the case that has the Product Key and various strings of numbers. Welcome to virtual software usage (BTW, we users never have owned the software anyway these many years). I took one look at the new XP Operating System interface, and within 10 hours ran out and bought Windows XP for Dummies, to put on Grandma's bookshelf. This operating system works similarly to previous versions, but it sure looks different. I think if you have never seen a computer before, this interface is simpler and perhaps more intuitive. As has been the direction Microsoft has been going for several years, more and more of the guts of the operating system are hidden from and inaccessible to the user. [Hmm. Sounds like a Mac - Ed] Grandma likes the look of the clean XP desktop. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Networking Then I tried networking Computer A to the other machines in the workgroup. The very straightforward network wizard popped up, was ever-so-friendly, ran through its script and had me create a network floppy for the other machines. I followed the instructions as given, but networking failed completely. I could not see any of the machines on the network. I tried every configuration the wizard would let me. I tried ignoring the wizard and using the Control Panel methods. Nothing. I have been putting PCs in offices since 1984, but will have to get a certified network engineer over to fix this. Ain't no way Grandma can do this. Connectivity The first thing I did was fire up Internet Explorer. Computer A is a network machine connecting through a hub to DSL. Computer B is only a dial-up modem. Both machines use HALNet and TAH-DA! I had a 100% success rate on connecting both machines to the Internet the first time! I had absolutely no connectivity problems, nor did I have to know much about computers to do this. All I did was click Start/Internet Explorer, and that beautiful HAL-PC home page fired up flawlessly and at fast speeds on both computers. Grandma can do this. Eudora was the email application desired by the user. I went to the website, www.eudora.com, and followed the download instructions for version 5.1. Fairly easy, and downloaded quickly on Computer A with the DSL line, and less quick on Computer B with the modem and a connect speed of 49.2ks. After the download, Eudora instructed me to activate the |
setup.exe file to complete the installation. This part went fine. So far, Grandma can do this.
Then a little trouble came. Eudora suggests the user add various accessories, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0, Apple QuickTime, and Microsoft Text-to-Speech, eudora.com/download/other. Eudora provides the links to do these downloads. I checked the Adobe website to see if version 4.0 was the latest, and it was not. Rather than follow Eudora's links, I downloaded Acrobat reader 5.0 directly from Adobe. No problem on Computer A with DSL. Could not get Computer B to accept the download via the modem, either the long or the short download version. It terminated twice at the 53% mark during the download. So on Computer B, I went back to the Eudora site, and downloaded version 4.0. Grandma can do this, but she'd be stuck with older technology, courtesy of old links from Eudora. I am very determined and did not like the fact that I had to load an old version of Adobe. Later that day, I went back to the Adobe site, and had a successful download, and setup. I don't know if Grandma knows to keep trying the same computer stuff over and over. Now she has Adobe Reader 5.0 on both computers. Applications In a Windows 95 or later environment, there is no way to transfer applications from one computer to another. The various associations, shortcuts, and registries don't make sense if you just copy applications over. You have to reload all your applications, and it can be time consuming. You may want to list the applications in a document and cross them off as you reload them. This can actually take several days, if you have a lot. For this test, I loaded shrink-wrap copies of Microsoft Office 2000 Professional on both machines. The simple instructions said to insert Disk 1 in CD-ROM drive and let it load, and then insert Disk 2 and let it load. All I had to do was accept the license screen. To test the programs, go to Start/All Programs, and click on the desired application. Grandma can do this. Printer Absolute no brainer. Connect the cables, turn it on, Plug n Play does its thing, prompts for the model number, loads the driver, and asks if you would like to print a test page. Works just like it should if users wrote software code. Grandma can do this. Gotchas I decided to work on a document from an older computer, and use it as a test on the new machines. So I transferred the data on a floppy disk. When I was through, I pushed the eject button on the floppy drive, and nothing came out. I had to use needle-nosed pliers to GENTLY remove the disk. It was not stuck, just not pushed out by the ejection button. So I repeated this little test with several other floppy disks. Yep, the drive was definitely not ejecting. So I took the computer back to the store, and they replaced the drive. Maybe Grandma can do this, but she would be real sore if there was no local store to quickly fix the problem and she had to deal with shipping big boxes back to the manufacturer and waiting several weeks. If you need to get something done, use magic- a five letter word spelled W-O-M-A-N. - Husband Audio I then tested all the CD-ROM drives to make sure they worked. I used a picture CD from my summer vacation, as well as an audio CD. I stuck the music CD in the drive. Windows Media Player for XP automatically opened and started the music. It is a gorgeous application, with all the music feature), as well as your own personal little light show. Since it's Christmas, I played Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. Real loud. Grandma can do this, but she might get mad at your choice of music. (Tip: to place the speaker icon next to your clock, click Start/Control Panel/Sounds, Speech, Audio Devices/Adjust the System Volume/Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar.) Transferring Data The easiest way is to get the network machine operational and just move the data over from the older PCs. Since the networking wizard fizzled, more cumbersome, slower methods were required. There is WAY too much data to use floppies, and the old machines do not have ZIP drives, Jaz drives, or CD burners. So a cabled connection using LapLink or PC Relocator is the remaining alternative. This is tedious, cumbersome, and you have to be careful and think through where and how you want your data on the new machine. It would have been tough and time-consuming for Grandma to do this. We need to get the network up and running. Summary PCs have been around for more than twenty years, and they have gotten easier to use, but I don't think Grandma could have set this baby up all by herself. There are still some things you just have to know from prior experience. But then, Grandma says the same thing to all the new mothers about raising babies. Copyright 1998 ) by Houston Area League of PC Users, Inc. (HAL-PC) All rights reserved. Carla Cawlfield is a long-term HAL-PC member and volunteer. She welcomes you to join her conversation by emailing her at carla@hal-pc.org |
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Number 240 - May 2003
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