A month ago, my PC began to intimate to me in unarguable fashion that it was bound for the computer graveyard.  In a sense that was okay; it doesn’t owe me anything.  It has been a worthy servant for years.  On the other hand, the thought of the work involved in setting up a new one would be enough to turn my hair grey if that process wasn’t already well underway.

The computer is the heart of my pen world, both business and hobby.  The amount of information to be transferred as almost beyond belief.  It accumulates unnoticed and takes hours to copy over.  Peripherals need persuasion to talk to each other nicely.  Programs have to be installed, some from DVD, others by download.

The worst was Adobe Photoshop Essentials.  I’ve bought and paid for the program and have it on DVD.  To install, however, one must log in to Adobe’s site.  Then they refuse to recognise my correct password.  I have to go through the interminable process of creating a new login.  You will not be surprised to hear that my new password includes a word rarely used in polite society.

At last everything is almost as it should be.  The printer is being cooperative.  Music comes from the speakers when requested.  Useful things like my memory card reader and microphone behave as they should.  27 (twenty-seven!) essential programs and utilities have been installed.

I can now get back to fixing pens and forget about the PC for a few more years.