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Thursday, 16 May 2024

I'm now able to use my laptop!

Thanks to a recent visit by my brother, I am now able to use my laptop ... which is incredibly liberating!

Although I have been able to blog and email using my iPad and iPhone, I am always much happier using a proper keyboard and a larger screen ... and now I can! My brother copied all the files that were on my PC - which I could not access as it was two floors away - onto an external hard drive that I can now connect to my laptop.

This small improvement to my current siltation has considerably boosted my morale, and with luck I'll be able to start doing some serious writing again very soon.

14 comments:

  1. Excellent news - it's small things like that that make the difference.

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    Replies
    1. Rob Young,

      As far as I am concerned, it is a great leap forward for me!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Two finger typing on a keyboard vs single finger poking on a tablet... a 100 percent improvement!

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    Replies
    1. Ed M,

      I'd never thought of it like that ... but you are dead right!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. Bob,
    Glad to hear you are sounding more positive.
    Will we have your company on the VWC soon?
    Neil

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    Replies
    1. Neil Patterson (Neil),

      Cheers! At present I have care visits that would cut across when VWC meets, but once I no longer need them, I do hope to join you online.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  4. Good to hear, though it does make me worry a bit about your data back up scheme (though maybe it was just that your backups were not right up to date?). You are probably already familiar with the kind of approach I've taken and really do not need me to tell you about it, but I'm going to do so anyway!

    When I finally decided that Office 2007 had been unsupported for a bit too long I subscribed to Office 365 (despite the fact that I dislike the whole idea of software subscriptions as compared to outright purchase). I justified this on the basis that I was actually paying for a terabyte of cloud storage which came with a free office suite. I'm only using 400 gigabytes of this so far but it does mean that - provided I have an internet connection - I can access my data from almost all the devices I own, including laptops (Kindles excepted).

    Of course, this is not a full back up system as the synchronisation means that if a file is deleted or updated on one device it changes on all of them, but it's pretty good protection against PCs, etc. breaking down. Even without purchasing extra memory (which the companies are happy to sell) just using the free storage in Google Drive and One Drive does allow general access for a fair bit of your most important data.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike Hall,

      Until I was hospitalised, I was regularly backing up my files on a removeable hard drive. One such backup was due when I broke my leg, and my brother complete task this earlier this week.

      I had not realised that my PC was actually still switched on when I went into hospital, and it had remained so until my wife switched it off last Sunday. When my brother switched it on to backup my files, he had to sit through a number of Windows updates before he could do the backup.

      I do use Office 365 and had begun to transfer the files held on my PC to One Drive, but this process was very time-consuming and was interrupted by my spell in hospital. Once I can climb the two flights of stairs to my home office I intend t complete that process ... but this might be many months in the future, so for the time being I am having to rely on my removeable hard drive as my main storage device as the laptop's built-in storage is just too small.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    2. Bob,

      I was surprised that you were finding the move to One Drive very time consuming. I did it a few years ago and - if I recall correctly - it took about 5 minutes of my time. But I was not at all discriminating, I just synchronised my Documents, Music and Picture folders, without worrying whether I really wanted to back up everything they held. Mind you, as at the time my upload speed was only about 10 Mbs, it took a long time for all the data to actually climb up onto the cloud,

      Regards,
      Mike

      Delete
    3. Mike Hall,

      When I first tried to transfer everything over to One Drive, it estimated the process would take over 36 hours. I began with my pictures, but we suffered a very brief service outage during it (not that an unusual occurrence in our part of London) and it stalled. I have yet to try again and cannot until I can return to using my PC.

      I’ll try again when I’m more mobile.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Dan Foley,

      Especially those brothers who are retired IT professional!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  6. Great news, a step in the right direction. Perhaps the 3rd Portable Wargame Compendium is now a distinct spec on the horizon. Sometimes the seemingly insignificant day to day things make all the difference once restored.

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    Replies
    1. Mark Cordone,

      Funny that you should mention the possibility of compiling the Third Portable Wargame Companion because i started the preliminary work on it yesterday!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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