Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Make A Change

I got a awesome notebook computer at Christmas. It's thin and lightweight, with a battery that lasts a long time. It's been great fun writing, surfing the Web, and playing games while sitting on the couch in the family room.

The computer came with a Windows Vista operating system, but a few weeks ago I upgraded to Windows 7. After I did the upgrade, my CD drive wasn't working anymore. I've been exchanging e-mails with the company's Technical Support office. They give me a suggestion. I try it, get excited when it looks like it might work, frustrated when it doesn't, then I e-mail them back and the dance continues. Last night their advice (complete with step-by-step instructions) was to make some changes to the computer registry.

That scared me. Now because I didn't think they knew what they were doing, but because I wasn't sure if I knew what I was doing. I know that if you mess up the registry, Windows won't work, and I didn't want that to happen to my new toy. I kept procrastinating on the job until there wasn't enough time to do it before bed. When I got home from work today, I decided to put on my big girl pants and tackle the project.

The first step was to back up the registry before I modified it, so I could go back to the original if I made a mistake. The Microsoft website told me how to do it; soon it was saved and I was ready to move on to the main project. I printed out the directions and set them on the kitchen table next to the computer. Carefully, triple-checking each step, I did what they told me to do, ending with shutting down and restarting the computer.

It restarted fine, and doesn't seem to have any big problems. Well, there is one...the CD drive STILL doesn't work! I updated Technical Support, and I'll wait to see what the next step is. The dance continues.

4 comments:

  1. My laptop is still on Vista..... my son, the techie told me to take it to best buy along with my receipt that will show the free up grade and let them do it..... it's free and this is part of their job.

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  2. Gee, my laptop is still on XP. (It probably can't handle Vista or higher, it doesn't have the memory required. Obviously, yours is different.)

    For things like this, I've had generally positive experiences with live chat. I don't know if Microsoft offers this, but I've used it with HP and with Norton. It can take a couple of hours, but then you're done and the problem is resolved.

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  3. Kathy-The computer wasn't bought at Best Buy, so that's not an option (unless I paV for them to do it). I'm tempted to do wait till the next time my techie son is in town and give it to him.

    Colette-Since the computer is under warranty, I just went back to the manufacturer...they don't offer the chat option. I would if they did, though!

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  4. I run Vista @ home, but Windows 7 @ work - I've got to say - I'm not a fan of Windows 7. To me, it's like all of the crummy Vista features made even crummier...

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