Hey Granny;)
"Why would you have to buy Windows if you messed it up? You should have a Restore CD, if you don't have a retail copy of Windows, that may have come with your computer or that you can make yourself if all your computer has is a Restore partition. Using the Restore CD should get you back to the way your computer was when it left the factory."
I agree with you, problem is, you have to allready have some computer knowledge to get this far. Its kinda telling that MS doesnt include a clean copy of thier OS with computer purchases, all you get is a bloatware infested "snapshot" installed (if your lucky) on your hard drive from the store that sells you your computer.
I remember when I was a kid, (Im 33) I was given a commodor 64 with some various floppies and hardware, mostly low grade. I had a decent modem and would access a few BBS's locally. I remember when it was cool to be able to be in a "room" with and live chat to more then one person., lol. At any rate, most of the people that were "online" at that time had either the commodor 128 or something IBM compatible, clones, or Mackintoshes. My first computer was most peoples first, but most people had allready mosed to their second or third by then. Not the worst start, but I was allready a little behind. I played with it quite a bit, and LOVED it. I moderated a friends BBS with him, and even started looking into learning code. Then one day it hit me, (after realizing that I had the oldest computer of anyone I knew) that my family would not be able to afford for me to continue to learn the world of computers, and I simply started giving my time to other interests, and quite computers alltogether.
I was 29 before I could aford my own computer, a cheap laptop that I promptly destroyed "experimenting" with settings and discovering the wonderfull world of .... Well, lets just say I was newly single and had ZERO computer knowledge, lol. Funny thing is I had PAID for 2 different kinds of virus protectors, both with extra "support" (<---LOLOLOL) and still managed to have reps from zimbobway tell me that I was basically "jacked" with no recourse. I had no idea about a restore disk or partition, and had allready backed up several viruses and a bunch of randomly chosen settings. I even had a friend that had some puter smarts that laughed when he realised I had lost admisinstrator control on my lappy. Well, 2 months in, and time for a new puter, since this ones useless.
About a year later, I one 1800 dollars in gift cards at circut city from my work, and bought me a nice little HP laptop. It was nicer then most of my friends desktops at the time, and I was excited to get going. Again, I was not told that I could create a disk that would give me factory settings, nore was I suplied with a clean copy from MS. Thankfully I paid the extra 300 bucks for the 3 year warrenty, lol. About a year later, I got an instal disk from HP and was very disapointed that it came with all the same "vonage" advertisements loaded on it, grrrr. At any rate, a "friend" that I was staying with, in transition from a very demoralizing breakup, was dating another mutual friend, but keeping it secret, as she was in the middle of a divorce, and he was trying to "hook-up" with a different mutual friend. Well, one night she planes her revenge, and I'm the tool of her distruction. We go to a concert, and for "convience" reasons, she wants to just spend the night at her house. Well, even though nothing happened, he's pissed, and alone with my laptop..... Insurence doesnt cover jealous rage.
So after another year of not having a computer, I paid 40 bux for the box I have now. Used and very old. Im still new, have very little knowledge, and constantly feal overwhelmed. I spend at least a few minutes each day on Wikipedia learning about computer tearms et cetra, but each page requires me to open at least 5 more pages to try and understand what the hell Im reading in the first place. Someday, Ill have a working knowledge base, but probably not tomorrow, lol.
So to answer your question, I only just learned about the backup disk thingy well AFTER I had bought my second puter, and this ones used and very old, so I dont trust whats actually on my restore partition.
Another thing, with MS, my firefox actually redlined my mispelt words, but in Vector, it doesnt, hmmm. For now, it will just have to remaign another unsolved mystery. Just like "how come when I choose the option to 'set as desktop background' from the right click menue, nothing happens" and how to make a folder and transfer files to it with out copying them, grrr. Ive got a long way to go, I pick up relatively quickly, if Im looking from the right angle, but I have no Idea how to speed up the process.
Really awsome idea hear, (self depriciating lol) "would be nice to have a full on "newbie" section, where any question could be asked, and I, or the super rair version of me, wouldnt feal intimidated to learn. Dont get me wrong, google is helpful, if your willing and able to wade through tons of links that may or may not pertain to your cause, but having a place where its "ok" to be ignorent by life default would be comforting. I googled about the addon I was trying to install, and the answers sent me into a mini depression, I simply dont know all the jargon.
/end cry fest
