Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Dinosaur

I've been increasingly frustrated with my online experience lately. I wondered whether I needed a new computer -- my laptop is almost seven years old. Some of my issues:

  • I'd be reading blogs (particularly WordPress blogs) & up would pop a security warning re: expired certificate -- but whether I clicked yes, no or whatever, nothing would happen -- everything was frozen up. I'd wind up hitting control-alt-delete, losing all of my tabs, & starting all over again. :p  I'd clear my cache, run virus & malware scans -- nothing seemed to help very much. 
  • On certain Blogger blogs (such as Brooke's), I'd go to comment, but I couldn't get a comment window to open. If I could, in the little drop-down window where you'd usually see "Comment as (Google, LiveJournal, WordPress, etc.)" there would be... nothing. I couldn't leave a comment. (I could do it on my cellphone, but I hate typing more than a sentence or two on there unless I had to...!). 
  • I was also having issues with commenting on certain blogs & message boards where my keyboard seemed "sticky." I'd be pounding the keyboard & nothing would appear. 

I finally realized that maybe it was a browser issue. Confession time: I'm probably the last person on earth who was still using Internet Explorer (current version 11).  I've been a faithful user of IE since... well, ever since I was dragged kicking & screaming from Netscape Navigator at least 15 years ago, lol.  (Likewise Microsoft Word vs WordPerfect, lol.)  I am certainly more tech-savvy than, say, my 76-year-old mother, but in other respects, I am the 56-year-old woman I am, lol. I tend to stick with what I know, what works for me, what's "good enough." Until it's not.

Anyway, I downloaded Google Chrome earlier today, imported all my IE bookmarks, set up my usual opening tab set, & started clicking on the same sites that had been giving me grief. Works like a charm. I've had a few moments where I'm not sure what to do or where to look for something (e.g., it took me a few clicks to find "clear browser history") but so far, so good. Fingers crossed...!!

Anyone else out there still an IE holdover?? Or a techno-dinosaur like me in other ways?? ;)  (Please, someone say yes, lol... ;)  ) 

9 comments:

  1. Sorry, lol !! I've been a Firefox and Google Chrome user for years now. In fact, I always have both open. I use my blogger ID on Firefox, so that all my blog comments can be from Mali @ No Kidding, and also have duckduckgo as my search engine, and on Google Chrome I'm my real name, and my Separate Life blog, with Google search engine of course, and that's where I save all my bookmarks/favourites. I like them both, and find there's little difference, and having them both open makes life a lot easier.

    Glad it didn't mean you had to fork out for a new laptop ... though at seven years, its days are probably numbered.I'll be interested to see how long it lasts. Mine is 4 1/2 years old now, and still going strong.

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    1. My sister's techie boyfriend/partner was asking me at Christmas how the battery was... I said I usually have it plugged in, but it seemed to last for about an hour if I forgot. Shortly after that, I had unplugged it briefly to move it somewhere else temporarily, and it almost immediately gave me a low battery warning. The battery is basically shot now, but so far, it's still running fine on a cord -- knocking wood...! (I used my previous desktop computer for 7 years before it started acting up & I bought this one -- and my original desktop before that also lasted 7 years. So looks like I'm almost due, lol...!)

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  2. I did use IE for ages but made the jump to Firefox about three or four years ago and haven't looked back! I never downloaded Chrome onto my old laptop. The new one has it, but I mostly use it when I need to have two Google accounts open at once (because I use one for Drive and one for Photos)

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  3. Being a loyal Mac user for over 10 years, I didn't even know that Internet Explorer was still a browser option. :P So glad you don't have to get a new laptop yet, though I agree with Mali that you are probably living on borrowed time.

    Seriously though, I have Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Chrome is awesome but won't run some of the browser based work programs that I need to use. Firefox is my backup browser and there are features of it that I do like. Safari, I mainly keep around because Apple won't let me delete proprietary software. I want to like it more than I actually do...

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  4. Haha, our desktop in the study is a similar age but running older software. We’ve talked about replacing it later in the year, maybe at EOFY, when there are bargains to be had.

    The Hubs mostly uses IE, until I ‘suggest’ each time that Google loads much more quickly. I used to love using Netscape Navigator too. It was a sad day when I had to start using IE. I love Google Chrome and have used it for years.

    I’ve had similar problems commenting on some blogs. If I use the laptop, I’m usually problem free since it’s a more recent acquisition, still it‘s about 3 years old now too.

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  5. Lots of people at my office had to be dragged into using Chrome, just like you. I get a lot fewer tech complaints from my coworkers now though. :)

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  6. He he he...I've been using Firefox for many years now, but I've been such a bad blogger and blog-hopper, so I haven't noticed such issues. Same as you, though, I prefer typing and writing comments with a keyboard instead of on my mobile phone.

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  7. I use Firefox at work, but some things that we do only work in IE, so I still use that. IE is the best for downloading things, IMO - it gives you useful options instead of having things disappear while you poke around trying to find them again.

    At home, I use Microsoft Edge, which is the IE replacement in Windows 10. However, I only use that because Windows somehow configured itself so that trying to use Firefox slows everything down to a crawl.

    I hate Chrome and find it to be not very user-friendly. Everyone I know swears by it though. But, my daughter just messed up my husband's bookmarks in Chrome by signing in and clicking a button. It was fun to try and figure that out!

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