... In Which I Didn't Accomplish What I Set Out To Do

I went over to see my mom this weekend (well, Friday night / Saturday at least).

Last time I was there I was to help her get her toes wet with 21st-century technology by setting up a Paypal, eBay, and Amazon account.

We started with getting her a Paypal account and I soon discovered that she didn't have any antivirus software on her computer.

NONE!

So I immediately ceased any further account set-up information and told her we'd have to get that fixed before anything else.

That's why I was over this weekend, to get antivirus installed.

So I'm there, booting up the computer, getting things going, etc....

And one thing leads to another.

'You have updates to install. Please click to begin the download'

So I do. And it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

'You must restart you system for updates to take effect'

I do that. And the system starts back up.

'You have updates to install Please click here to begin the download'

What? More?!? "Hey, mom! Do you ever get the updates when it tells you to?", I ask.

"No, I click the X on the box and close it. I never do that. I don't know what they are for", she replies.

".......", I'm thinking. So I click to get the new update and it not only takes 2 hrs but stalls in the process. So I try to start over and that makes things worse. It took another 2 hours to undo what it was trying to update.

Finally it's done and I put in the antivirus software. Then it can't download the current signatures to update itself. WHAT?!?

Try it again. No luck.

I'm working with a recycled laptop with XP installed, but it's like it's running at MS DOS speed with a 28K modem.

To cut to the chase, NOTHING worked like it was supposed to. After 6+ hours of putzing with the machine all I succeeded in doing was cursing at it.

I'm not a tech expert, so I had to leave it in other (hopefully) capable hands to solve.

All was not wasted though.

I managed to make a stop at a nearby coffee shop where they diplayed some art from a local artist. She has an anime-flair and I gave her link to Technogreek to maybe contact her for the upcoming ECCC in 2009. Hopefully she'll be there and if you're reading this blog and make it to the show, stop by and tell her you found out about her here.

Today should be a blast.

I've got the comic book release party to go to.

I'm not exactly what's all in store for when I get there, but I'll try to get pictures and post them soon afterwards.

I hope to see some of you there today. (I know some of you will be there at least!)