I think this is the best look I have at the old Vista computer, a Dell 537s. The thing served me well for many years but as Microsoft decided to force everyone to their latest operating system and the computer got old while graphics and other stuff advanced it became harder for me to even use YouTube or Facebook. Browsers stopped updating. Online content was slow if it ran at all. All sorts of really annoying things. Being unemployed there was nothing I could do about it.

And then the hard drive died, wiping out stuff I hadn’t backed up along with stuff I had and resulting in my losing a few things. That made me sad. It also meant I would have to get a new machine. At first it seemed like my dad would be providing this but then the stimulus checks came out and suddenly I could actually pay for it. It’s probably the only good thing that’s happened since the pandemic began. It wasn’t very expensive but it’s pretty good for what it is. Actually, it’s leagues better than the old computer and my computer friend who helped me select and set-up the computer was amazed how fast it is. Want to see it?

There it is. The new Windows 10 computer, a Dell Optiplex 9010. (We’re a Dell household. They always seem to work great for us, even when they’re refurbished by someone other than Dell, like this and the laptops my dad and I own.) Originally set up for Windows 7, it was refurbished by EFE International, a small business who sells through eBay (where I got mine) and Amazon. I’ve had it a week and outside of three blue-screens while online it works pretty well. It’s fast and we could potentially make it faster at some point. I’m happy with it thus far but I still need to take time to play with all the “buttons and switches”.

I am happy with this purchase and returned to making content on my other site a few days ago. And I’m able to run stuff online that I was having trouble with before.  Most of my chosen software (which I still can’t afford to upgrade) is working well enough (there’s a couple things on the video editor I need to look into), though there’s still a few things I need to load. Overall though I’m back in production.

Plus it has a built-in speaker that’s less like the built-in computer speaker we usually think of that just makes beeping noises and more like the ones I plug in externally to listen to videos and music and stuff. I still use the external speakers since they can be placed better but if something happens to them I have a back-up until I can get them. I like having options It’s a rather decent speaker. When I first starting messing with the computer I didn’t even realize he hadn’t plugged in the speakers. That’s good quality.

As a bonus, to bring this back to the site’s main topic, it takes up less space on my computer desk so I have more room to work and it’s still better than my previous computer. Isn’t technology wonderful (when it works)? Heck, most of us carry a computing device in our pockets these days that’s more powerful than the computers that flew us to the moon.

Don’t worry, this is the last I’ll talk about the computer unless something else goes wrong or another virtual clutter organizing project is chosen (I still need to redo the back-up drive since I got the okay from the expert). I’m just glad to be back in business after two weeks of just being able to check emails unless I could get a couple of hours on my dad’s computer. I kind of wish it had broken during my planned hiatus so I wouldn’t lose MORE productivity time but at least I can get back to working on stuff. Next week I’m back to cleaning stuff though.

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