4.30.2009

about those computer problems

I wrote this post while sitting in my car yesterday morning in a little notebook that I carry with me everywhere. You never know when inspiration will hit or when you'll need to kill some time. I was waiting in the parking lot for my appointment at the nearest Apple store which, unfortunately is an hour and a half drive from my house. I probably left too early but with traffic and construction, you never know.

My brand new laptop, that I'd had for only a week, was very ill. Actually, ill doesn't quite describe it—it was more like in a coma. I had this brilliant idea that I'd try to run Windows on my Mac and there are programs that can make that happen. I use Quicken for my business accounting and, while they do have a Mac version, it gets terrible reviews and you can't convert files from one platform to another. That means five years of unusable backup files and inputting all of 2009 all over again. No thanks.

So, I followed all the directions to load this new program and it didn't work. Not only did it not work but it totally trashed my original operating system. As in, all software, all files, everything gone. I spent an hour on the phone with support trying to fix it but nothing worked. So I set up an appointment at the store. And made myself sick worrying for two days while I waited. They couldn't do a quick fix either so I left it, drove back home, and worried some more.

I just got the call that they were able to repair it - yay! Not so good that I lost all the software I'd already loaded, but I hadn't gotten far and can do it again. And I hadn't transferred any of my files over so I didn't really lose anything that I can't get back. As for that program and running Windows, I think I'll pass. Brian says I can put Quicken on his PC and run it from there. I wish I'd thought of that in the beginning!

Now I'm off for another 3 hour round-trip drive. I swear, I haven't finished a thing work-related this entire week!

6 comments:

Sioux B said...

Hi Janet!

I hope your Mac makes it home OK. When I moved from PC to Mac I went "cold turkey" and have not been sorry. I don't use any Windows-based applications on my Mac at all, and have not felt the need to. So hang in there - it will be worth it.

Even Quicken for Mac seems to work acceptably, though you have to get used to the different way the Mac version has of looking at things. In some ways it is easier to use.

I don't know about business accounts, but I converted 16 years of personal accounts from PC to Mac. It was not painless, but it certainly can be done. But your PC option seems a good one, as long as you can get access to the box when you need it.

Best regards,

Sue B

kath said...

I actually own the Parallels program but for the reasons you just mentioned, I've been too scared to install it on my Mac. Fortunately, we also own a PC for such cases.
We do use the Microsoft Office for Mac programs for my husband's business, and they are very similar to the PC versions, so I recommend them if you need them.
Glad the damage wasn't too bad on your Mac.

janet said...

Parallels is actually pretty easy to load and it opens into it's own separate window on the screen instead of restarting the whole computer. That part wasn't scary. But, for some reason, after I loaded Quicken I couldn't get it to open my backup file. And from what I read on the web it works pretty wonkily anyway.

I am so sick of dealing with this computer - I just want it to work without all this screwing around. I'm doing more of that today because when they reloaded the operating system they didn't have my password. So, it's set to something I can't figure out. Tech support has me reloading OSX again so I can reset everything. Sigh.

Debbie said...

Wow...this all sounds os familiar to me! My husband is in the business of repairing and rebuilding computers. He has a Mac and a PC. We mostly use PC's. He does many reinstalls on folks computers and his absolute specialty is recovering data from hard drives of crashed computers. He is the CSI of the computer world! His website is flippingbits.com if you ever have any questions, he'd be glad to answer them. Glad everything worked out alright for you.:)

janet said...

Thanks, Debbie. Luckily, I'd only started loading software and hadn't moved files over from my old Mac so I didn't lose anything important. And I'll be backing up regularly to an external hard drive just in case. I have too much info that I'd be devastated if I lost it.

Jennie said...

I've been putting off "making the switch" and transferring my PC stuff to my new mac and now I definitely will hold off indefinitely! I still have my PC when I want to do something on it - but will keep my mac free of PC. I'm glad I've been to scared to do it. I'm sure there are thousands that have done it with great success, but I would rather not risk it. What would I do w/o my 24" screen to keep me busy while the kids are napping? Thanks : )