My 6+ year old Toshiba crapped out for good earlier this week.
Now, I happen to know for an absolute fact that it was not a software issue (virus, corrupted registry / files) because I fixed all that last week when it crapped out. No, the old beast had serious hardware issues, specifically, the disk drive. But, Ms Freud insisted we take it to Best Buy to “let them check it out … just to be sure”.
Why Best Buy? Because we have a Best Buy credit card, with $0 balance …. AND, as a “preferred customer” we get 6 months same as cash …. i.e., no interest charges.
We arrive at Best Buy and head straight to the Geek Squad desk. There’s a sign-in sheet! We are fifth on the list. It takes almost an hour for my name to be called. Geekman turns on the computer, sees the blue screen of death, and the chkdisk errors, and informs me my hard drive is toast, and it will cost about $250-$350 labor and parts to replace the drive, and that it really isn’t worth it for a computer that old. I look at Ms Freud and I say nothing, but I do give her my very best “I fucking told you so!!” look ever. Off we go to purchase a laptop …
I bought my very first ever laptop (Toshiba) about 11 years ago. It was a monster machine … 17 inch screen and weighed about 15 pounds, give or take a pound, two inches thick, and I had a special suitcase just to lug it around, it even had wheels …looks like what an airline stewardess lugs around. Oh, it cost $3,500. Today, a brand new Toshiba Satellite weighs about 4 pounds and costs $399. Technology, regardless of what RE says, is friggin amazing.
So, I lug my fat ass over to the laptops to see what’s available (even though I know I want another Toshiba Satellite), and as I move the mouse to wake up the screen, this is what I see;
Ho Lee Fuk. This is my first introduction to what is called Windows 8. The Start button is gone … in favor of the above screen. It is easier and more intuitive, they say. They lied. There is NOTHING intuitive or easy with this new look interface. Is the above screen shot pleasing to the eye??? Or, is your first reaction the same as mine — “What the goddamn fuck is this shit??” What used to take 1-2 clicks, now takes 4-8 clicks. It’s a god damn fucking abortion.If I ever see Bill Gates on the street I’m going to kick him in the fuck.
If you check internet comments you will find that the VAST majority of users feel exactly the same way. Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 are still on about 85%-90% of computers worldwide. Users will hang on to the older Windows like Grim Death until the very end …. and they should. However, you can NOT buy a new computer at a bricks-and-mortar store with anything but Windows 8, as Microshit is determined to shove their aborted placenta down our throats. However, you can still get Windows 7 online … and that’s what we did, for $399 plus $16 shipping, delivery on Nov 5th.
Now …. regarding my disconnect. We went to the Best Buy in Union, NJ … right on Route 22. Route 22 is an east-west 4-lane highway (two in each direction) that runs from Pennsylvania to Newark, NJ … within eyesight of NYC. Back in the 1970’s Time magazine ran a story on America’s “10 most dangerous highways” and, iirc, Route 22 made it somewhere in the Top 3.
The 30+ miles from Somerville,NJ to Newark is one GIGANTIC 30 mile strip mall … on BOTH sides of the highway. Store after store after store after strip mall after strip mall for 30 friggin miles. It’s simply amazing. Here is an actual screen shot … very close to the Best Buy we shopped.
I’ve traveled most of America. There are few other places with a 30 mile strip mall. Ya gotta see it to believe it.
Now, here is the disconnect.
— The Best Buy parking lot was jammed full. The store was jammed with customers. All the checkout lines had buying customers.
— We stopped by Home Depot just to look at snow-blowers. Exactly the same scenario. Jammed parking and lots of people in the store.
— A few miles down the road, in Mountainside, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to see a movie … a 10-movie “metroplex”. The two movies we had an interest in were sold out … and the line of people buying tickets must have been 30-40 people deep. Fuckit, we left.
— It was getting late and neither of wanted to cook when we got home so we decided to drive about 10 miles to Bound Brook to a fantastic mom&pop pizza joint. Ordered a garlic and extra-cheese pizza to go …. “no problem, sir, but it will be about a 20 minute wait”. He lied. It took just over half an hour … a constant stream of humanity coming and going the entire time.
— And so it was …. everywhere. not just Route 22 … bumper to bumper traffic, people driving to and fro, shopping and buying … like there’s no tomorrow.
Well, that was my little Saturday adventure. Yeah, I know there are “pockets of prosperity” in ‘Murika …. D.C. and northern Virginia are doing even much better. But, if Chief Engineer Scotty beamed you down to Union, NJ you would believe you arrived in Consumer Heaven, where all the natives prospered mightily.
Thanks for the story Stucky! I hope you enjoy your new machine and craft many more interesting posts for us to enjoy.
Stuck
If you would stop visiting those porn sites six times a day, your computers wouldn’t keep getting infected.
Gawd, how I hate Windows 8. All our newer machines at the office have it, and it is a royal PITA. There is nothing “intuitive” about that screen and it takes twice as many clicks of the mouse to do absolutely everything. How does that help with “productivity”.
I’m just hoping my beloved 3 year old Asus lasts till the promised Windows 9, which is supposed to have the traditional start menu and work like Windows 7, comes out. However, I’d very much like to see the Microsoft lock on the market for operating systems broken, and am renovating an older 2008-vintage laptop with Linux to see how well it works. As I’ve heard great things about Linux from users, who I am told are mostly institutions, I wonder why it hasn’t seen wider use. If it works well, I’ll load it on my Asus.
It is the same in the Boston area Stucky.
Best Buys are jammed on the weekends, you cannot get in their parking lots without a long wait.
Forget about restaurants, jammed with long waits, and then there are the mall zombies that head there automatically to walk around and hang out in the food courts. If this is a bad economy, I would hate to see what a boom looks like.
Everybody not working is on the dole, that’s for sure.
I bought a windows 8 and gave it to my daughter after 0ne solid week of aggravation. Went online to Dell and bought a windows 7, seems they still sell them as folks can’t take to windows 8. It was a real fuck up system, and ass hole Ballmer finally got the boot from it. He was a dick head for sure.
The key point is weekends. Best Buy is open during the week too. It’s a morgue during the week.
The results don’t lie. Their revenue and profits continue to go down. The NY metro area, DC metro area and Boston are ground zero for the Fed easy money bubble. They aren’t a reflection of the rest of the country.
The numbers don’t lie.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=83192&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1960879
Here is the flip side to your experience.
Bathroom tub faucet is leaking. It’s 20 years old and a builders grade crappy Delta model. I have to stop at Lowes on the way home from work on Friday to buy a new faucet. Then Avalon emails me that her 15 year old minivan had alarms and lights flashing low oil as she drove to work on Friday afternoon. I tell her I’ll buy some oil and stop at her restaurant after I buy the faucet and put it in the van.
I arrive at Lowes at 5:30 Friday night. Absolute ghost town. Twice as many employees as shoppers. I get the faucet, but Lowes doesn’t sell oil for autos. I had to go across the parking lot to Target for some oil. I was in and out of Lowes in 5 minutes flat.
I grab the oil at Target and go towards the register. There are 10 registers open and 8 cashiers standing in front of their lanes waiting for anyone to arrive. The cashier thanked me for coming to her lane because she was so bored.
Two of the biggest retailers in America were ghost towns on a Friday night.
Admin is such a sport that he decided to no longer make Avalon drive a vehicle that could implode at any moment. We spent three hours buying a 2012 Honda Civic yesterday. Why anyone would buy new is beyond me. We got a 2 year old car with 19,000 miles for 40% less than a brand new car would cost.
So I just did my part to boost 4th quarter GDP by going further into debt. I’m sure Obama and Yellen are happy.
Best Buys profits suck because their prices don’t reflect that they are indeed the best buy out there. The last two computers I bought came from a small shop where the guy in the back built a no name computer loaded with all the software I need and the total package deal was $399.00. (no monitor included) Best computers I ever had and one is now 5 years old and works like a charm. I don’t pay for name brand and I don’t repair old computers as they only last so long and it’s better to just buy a new one.
Geek squad scores another win!
“If you would stop visiting those porn sites six times a day,” ———- Admin
pfffft … I hit 6 porn sites before most people wake up.
I appreciate your “flip side” story. I KNOW my story is anecdotal … and, NOT the norm … and that your story is more reflective of how things really are. Still, it’s just strange to see all this activity, at least here in the Garden State. Christ Christie 2016!!!
We filled up the car for $2.80 a gallon yesterday.
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Other, fyi …. out of the clear blue, all of a sudden Audio Ads would start. I would turn off the sound. Minutes later “they” turned on the sound and another ad would play. Aggressive cocksucking advertisers!!! Really slowed down scrolling, too. I have Ad Blocker but it doesn’t work on flash vids. I’m on Firefox ….. there’s an add-on called Flash Block …. takes 2 seconds to install … and the problem is gone.
Yes, Windows 8 sucks. Ever noticed the irony of how they sell all this shit? I learned on DOS. Was working for Capital Holding Corporation (another story, was actually a “good” corporation until a certain CEO took over and sold it out from under Louisville, KY – many stories from that place) when we got Windows 3.1 training. Still remember the slides that extolled the virtues of the user interface and the “textured” 3D type buttons, etc, etc. All about efficiency and user experience. Gradual changes occured that were asy enough to adapt to until Windows 8. Funny thing is, it is actually a lot more like DOS in its desktop default screen. No 3D, no textures, just flat large icons. Seems fairly similar to some of the “desktop manager” software you could buy to manage all your DOS programs before windows. And instead of doing it in 640k (or less) of RAM on a 286, it requires 2 or 4 GB plus of RAM and a processors millions of times more powerful!! I still use my 4 year old ASUS with Windows 7 Professional.
Stucky, find a real computer geek near you and have them uninstall all the unnecessary stuff that comes with a new computer, all that will go away plus you will have a more responsive computer.
You can do it yourself for most stuff with “autoruns” a “Sysinternals” program now supplied by Microsoft for free on their website (turn things on and off so they won’t start). The caution is that if you turn off the wrong things your computer may not work the way you want it to.
My Dell laptop died about 6 months ago…wouldnt even show the BSOD. D E D dead. Went on Craigslist found another Dell with Winblows 7. Had a few trojans and some other malware. Cleaned it up. Total cost 80 bucks.
Had a friend give me a Dell tower with XP on it. Had a root kit and trojan. Cleaned it up.Partitioned hard drive and put Ubunto on it. Didnt have a monitor so I connected it to the 40″ flat screen in the upstairs bedroom. Bought wireless keyboard and mouse for 19 bucks. Works great.
Go to Houston. Down 45 into town. Easily 50 miles of strip malls starting about Conroe.
Chicago..It doesn’t not appear there will a Windows 9 …but maybe os 10 or 11.get ready to replace all soon to be defunct accessory programs that Windows no longer recognizes.
“Seemingly everyone on the Net has a theory as to why Microsoft skipped the name “Windows 9” and jumped to 10. Here’s one explanation that actually makes sense.
http://www.cnet.com/news/is-this-why-microsoft-named-it-windows-10/
Stucky…the pic you posted could be anywhere USA…the cookie cutter retail county.
Big box welfare queens subsidized by the taxpayer drove out mom and pop retail and thus those treasures troves of diversified mercantile that varied with every little town one cared to travel though.
Also,this save you some time from searching for the power off charm with 8. I put one on my toolbar cuz’ there’s not a effign thing charming out Windows 8’s friggin’ charms.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2012/06/25/how-to-add-a-shut-down-button-to-windows-8/
or load 8.1..
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/windows/3433515/how-shut-down-windows-8-easy-way/
Stucky
My old Dell finally died so I purchased an HP online because I could get it with Windows 7 (I had read several times that 8 was a pain in the ass). How I miss old XP. 7, too, is more difficult in my book, although that may say more about me than it.
The 30 mile strip mall you describe is ugly and bad for the soul. The big boxes and chain restaurants have homogenized this country from formerly unique and interesting regions. I’m glad many of them have died and more are deathly ill. I came to consciousness in a small town with a definable and pleasant downtown with lots of small shops that provided the community’s material needs quite nicely; the alternative we’ve got now is, in a word and on several levels, shit. I believe the future will force a return to locally-based commerce, and I hope I live long enough to enjoy it.
In the meantime, Daughter Dear and I are paying a rare visit to the mall down the road this afternoon. The designers of this particular mall did a good job trying to make the whole affair feel like one of the downtowns I described above, and it is a lot more pleasant than most.
Newest Excel sucks. Newest Outlook sucks. Newest Windows sucks.
Get a Mac. Stand with Rand and BC-LR to all
Really slowed down scrolling, too. I have Ad Blocker but it doesn’t work on flash vids -Stuck
I keep Javascript disabled. Stops alot of BS from running..even flash. Firefox removed the ability to enable disable Javascript from the tools menu so you have to go to the about:config menu. Sigh. So I created a bookmark and use about:config to turn things on and off.
If anyone has Windows 8 & wants the Start menu back, install Classic Shell. Free.
http://www.classicshell.net/
Nice comments.
And thanks for the tips, folks! Here is what I will do when the computer arrives;
1) Do NOT add any software (cc cleaner, Adaware, Full Office suite, Firefox, etc) at first.
2) Take it out of the box. Start it up.
3) Go directly to Control Panel — install/uninstall programs, and start uninstalling lots of shit. Toshiba is one of the WORST offenders of including bloatware. Many I recognize. Those that I don’t, I will google and see if they can be deleted. There will be many programs to be deleted.
4) Go to the System Configuration, Startup tab. The default is to start up a BUNCH OF SHIT you normally don’t need. So, I’ll be disabling (not deleting) a shitload of startup items.
5) Run registry cleaner … because Windows does a SHIT job of keeping the registry clean when programs are deleted.
6) Install Adaware. Immediately run a full system scan … because I trust nothing, even straight from the factory
7) Install the rest of the softwares
8) Rerun full system scan.
9) At this point I am sure the computer is clean, and all shit bloatware is gone, and unnecessary processes are disabled.
10) Make a System Restore master disk!!! If several years down the line the system freezes up, won’t start. won’t run well no matter what I do …. I can save the day by reloading the system knowing I have a totally clean Windows disk.
You can set up Winblows 8 to look and function like Winblows 7.
i will never move on past xp, and there will always be at least one geek out there who keeps xp running.
Here I thought I was the only one having trouble with TBP freezing up, having to correct my comments because of missing letters, having to re-start once or twice – major irritations that would discourage a newbie. Today I followed I-S advice and used duck duck go, uninstalled google chrome and so far it is a breeze to scroll down the page on TBP without having to click a thousand times forward and 500 back.
+100
Will no longer step foot in a Best Buy. Last straw came when I picked something up close to closing time. After being ignored by all the staff (I no longer respond to “Hey, buddy.”) they watched me purchase my product at the register. Then instead of either letting me leave unmolested, or warning me beforehand as they weren’t doing anything else, they let me walk out the door and let the alarm go off, so they could feel practice their bouncer authority act. Their stop and frisk policy for paying customers rivals Bloomberg. I asked the flunkee why they have to inspect my bag when they just watched me pay in cash. They were unable to provide a satisfactory answer or a manager’s card.
As for Windows Hate, you can download several programs, some mentioned, also Start Menu which is free and will allow you to bypass the Metro Screen, add the old taskbar and menus. That, combined with a few web searches on how to tweak the registry so that the “Charms bars” don’t appear everytime you move the mouse, and it becomes somewhat usuable. But it will never be good. Software reached its ease of use somewhere around 2010, and is experiencing diminishing returns. Every laptop wants to be a tablet and every tablet is striving to be a laptop. For Firefox install the addons Adblock and Ghostery, although websites are slowly learning how to get around Adblock.
Next time . . .
HGST Travelstar 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache Mobile retail kit – $75 on Amazon. Frys and Newegg likely have similar prices.
Harbor Freight has 4mm hex drive ‘precision’ screwdriver sets for $7 if you aren’t willing to pay $50 or so for the Wiha set.
Putting in a new hard drive is usually a 10 minute job, at most. Unless it’s an Apple laptop – the new ones are glued together, takes hours with a high chance of failure. I hate Apple for doing it.
Another $15 or so for a 16GB USB memory stick – you’ll need this for installing Debian Linux (for 64 bit cpus: http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/ – for 32 bit cpus – http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-hybrid/ ) – if you hate Win8, pick the KDE option. You could probably still find Win 7 install disks for sale, too. Win 7 sucks slightly less than Win 8. Slightly.
You might want to get an external USB 2.5″ HDD case, and try to salvage old files off the old drive later. (maybe $15)
You may need to find knowledgable person to help with the OS installation, but give it a shot yourself first.
All those years of telling my kids not to touch the screen.
I moved from Bergen County NJ to Oklahoma almost three years ago. In OK we are experiencing the Obama recovery- low paying part time jobs are plentiful. Mortgage paying jobs are scarce. The restaurants here are also packed. I think it’s a luxury that is still affordable. Their house is maxed out but limits on the credit cards are still not reached.
There also seems to be a sense of fatalism to consumer spending today. No saving for tomorrow. Let the kids worry about themselves when that time comes.
@erisa, great comments. I can remember trying to get my parents to create grocery lists and budgets, they commented that with five kids they did not make enough to bother. Fatalistic. Dad continues with this to this day.
Stucky, Windows 8 totally sucks. I went to lynda.com and spent $25 to get a month of training on it for my employee and myself. Just to use it. I’ve never, ever, had to take training for MS products but with that POS I couldn’t take it anymore.
I’ve had excellent luck with my Asus laptops. The one I’m on now has nearly 500 Gb of data, is 4-1/2 years old and I have never had a major issue with it. I paid about $450 for it in 2010.
The sad part is that in order to avoid W8, I can’t replace it for less than $500, and that just seems ignorant to me. So I’ll keep it backed up and keep using it until the day it dies.
Oh yeah, last point, take your out of warranty repairs to independents, not mega-retailers. Those guys love to tinker and bench fees around here are around $50. I’ve saved a couple different computers for less than $200. The frustration of learning a new system far outweighs that cost for me 🙂
Good luck on the new one!