If you like my blog please Follow, and I'll hop along and return the favour

Monday, September 02, 2013

My woes and trials! "We like to think of every customer as our only customer, and hope we treat every customer in that way.!"

Boy what a few months I have had!
its been non stop, first Doncaster and Lupus knocked me for 6, then Pc decided it was slowly loosing the will to live, so new motherboard required then Microsoft sent out a dodgy update, which I found out about AFTER fresh installing 3 times!!

So where I am now. Finally the pc is behaving properly, NOT FUNNY microsoft! One of the security updates on 13th Aug started playing havoc with some computers, all sorts of issues, I didnt own my own files anymore, I couldnt print to the printer, I couldnt scan to the printer but could print, cor it drove me NUTS!! Apparantly it activated built-in errata data in some processors, in some machines it allowed root kits to run, crashed Games on Gamers computers all sorts of issues. But uninstall the offending update and everything works fine....................wish I had known about it before the 3rd fresh installation..........oh boy was I cross! 15 pages of complaints at Microsoft over that one!
So to new-ish pc, well actually the important bits are new, courtesy of a fabulous company I found AWD-IT!
Building your own PC from scratch isnt really something I relish, well its been a long time, computer world wise since I last built one, and my Heat-sync fluid was as dry as a bone, so I went hunting for some alternative and came across this company AWD-IT.
Now I am a computer engineer, qualified etc, but  have lapsed with my current health situation, which lets face it now is NOT going to get better, but I have had about 30 yrs of being active, so cant expect too much from this body now-a-days.
But back to subject, well sort of if you know me, lol. So I do know what I am doing, but in all honesty setting up a bios for all the relevant pc parts leaves me with a big weight in my stomach, not something I look forward to at all, and something I try to avoid. So its one of those things, dont want to do it, lets see if I can avoid it...........and you know what ..........................I DID!. AWD-IT send out a complete and tested motherboard!
lets see if I can explain this in layman terms:
A pc really relies on 4 things: Power supply unit (PSU), this is where it plugs into the wall, there is a box inside the pc that splits all the power from the socket up into different cables. If its a really old pc then you may need a new PSU. A PSU is NOT something to play with! Its the most dangerous part of the PC! If you're in doubt about the PSU in your machine, BIN IT! And get a new one! They can KILL! Do not fiddle or try to repair a PSU EVEN when its not plugged into the wall! It holds a charge like the inside of the old TV's, enough to KILL!
The Motherboard is where it connects all the little bits that we plug into the machine, and what allows information to flow from the keyboard to the Graphics to the Processor,  to the speakers, its all interconnected. Think of it like a sat nav or Road Map, directing the bits to where they need to be.
The processor is the Brain of the computer, its what tells every other bit what it should be doing, just like the human brain. Without the processor it wont work! So the processor is important. The more powerful the processor, the more it can deal with at any one time. The way to think of this is your Great Grand Fathers Brain verses a genius' Brain 100 years from now. Obviously you want one of the more powerful Brains.
Lastly is the Random Access Memory (Ram). The easiest way to explain this is imagining Ram as Hands! You know those things hanging off the end of your wrists? Hands. If you have 1 hand you can do things pretty slowly, if you have 2 hands you can do things pretty quickly, but if you had 100 hands you would be super fast! Ram is the bit that passes things around, and holds them while it waits to be told where to put it, and obviously the more Hands/Ram you have the faster things can be done.
So with that info in mind, building a computer from bare components can be tricky. So what if you could get most of it done for you? Thats what you really pay for in a pc, someone who will put it all together and make sure it works.
So I got the pre-built Motherboard from AWD-IT, and a new PSU, and I now have an up to date pc which should go for years for £200, with the option to upgrade to 32gb ram, (I actually remember pre-windows home computing when it was IBM or Amiga, the pc didnt have a memory built in it did it all off floppy disks)!
I must admit I did have to phone up once to check something but I was that impressed with their knowledgeable help that I complimented them on their service to which I got the most astounding answer: "We like to think of every customer as our only customer, and hope we treat every customer in that way.!" You know what? What a company statement that is! Well done AWD-IT.
You are only the third Company who I have come across who operates in that way, along with MTC and KNK, well done all 3 of you!
So the pc was re-built using the new bits, and the old bits like screen HDD's, dvd players etc. The old bits are going down the line to eldest son, and his pc will go to youngest son, or eldest daughter, who is actually quite able to build her own pc, but probably wont get round to it, so I'll have to do it for her.
So up and running pc wise, then the update from Microsoft hit, after 6 days of sitting there thats when it decided to play up, and I'm generally on my pc quite a bit, I even watch C&C on here 24 hrs a day, so yes I use it a lot, and boy was I confused with the issues that were occurring. I didnt relate it to the windows updates as that was 6 days ago, and no issues.........After the second glitchy failed attempt, I found out about the update, and now have a working system provided I dont go looking for updates, which tends to be one of the first things you do when you do a fresh installation!
so now to what I have been doing in between the pc issues...............

Picture frame, 

S for Santa by Kraftyhands Penny slider


another picture frame

erm well obviously a Thank you card!

a Crafts u Print card




last years Snowman card kit

Embossilicious folder

last Years snow man

Last years snowman

some free Christmas decoupage, dont know where from

Another CUP Kit

last years snowman


another Embossilicious Folder

Some Dufex


another of the unknown decoupage

last years Snowman, Again!

More Dufex

Another Embossilicious folder

Yet more Dufex

Christmas card kit from the £ shop

and another Cup file!
Photo's courtesy of youngest and I have just noticed I havent put my watermarking program back on!
A quick reminder if you have got this far: Kraftyhands are having a DT call, so check it out:  http://www.kraftyhands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/dt-call.html

hope to see you soon,

lou

1 comment:

lady jasmine crafts said...

Wow you have been bizzie there all gorgeous xxx