The Challenges of a Dead Laptop

As of October 17, 2014, I will have had my laptop for two years. I've used it every day since I bought it at Best Buy. A few months after I bought it, I started getting the "blue screen of death" and took it to Best Buy thinking their techs could find out what was wrong and fix it. I was wrong. 

So I contacted my good friend and repairman, Bill Gould at A+ OnSite Computer Repairs in Midlothian, Virginia. He figured it out and for the next ten months or so I didn't have anymore blue screens or any other problems with my laptop. For the past four years my mom, my daughter, and I have relied on Bill for computer repairs. He's very knowledgeable and his prices are reasonable. He will work on your computer on site unless it has a problem like mine had, where he has to take it home to work on it. He runs his business from his home, and this is all he does (besides rescue feral cats). His resume is impressive. He's worked with Microsoft Office for over 14 years, and he's been building computers since 1993. If you live or work around Midlothian, Virginia, and your computer is in need of repair, contact him at (804) 763-2436. His website is www.aplusonsite.com. 

Three weeks ago I started getting messages from my computer that the hard drive was unstable and needed repair or replacement. I ignored them. I should have called Bill instead. Luckily I had the presence of mind to back everything up on my jump drive. One night last week I noticed that my computer seemed to be taking FOREVER to shut down, and I got suspicious. After it finally shut down, I tried to reboot it, but it said it couldn't open MS Windows. It said it needed the installation disc, which I didn't have, because I'd bought the software as a direct download from Microsoft. I asked Bill to help out. Normally he fixes computers on-site, but this was something he couldn't fix that way. He took my laptop home and worked on it. He said the hard drive was so dead that he couldn't get it to boot. So he replaced it with a refurbished hard drive, and brought it back to me after three days. We loaded everything from my jump drive (pictures, music, etc.) onto the "new" hard drive, and everything appears to be fine now. 

Boy, did I get a surprise. Bill loaded MS Office 2007 on my "new" hard drive because that was all he had available. I've since recommended that he get newer software so that other people won't run into the problems I'm facing. I'm so used to MS Office Home and Student 2010 that going back to Office 2007 feels like reinventing the wheel. I'm trying to figure out how to convert some things, like my OneNote notebooks, from 2007 to 2010. All of them synced except the one I was using for Strong Tower, which said it needed a password in order to sync--but I didn't use a password for it. So I tried to send it to OneDrive, and it said the notebook was empty. So I guess I've lost all of that notebook, which I was using for my novel. Good thing I had the stages, plot, scenes, and so forth written in MS Word and printed out, so I 

can refer to the hard copy. 

I need to upgrade to newer software. I went online to Microsoft's website to look for software, and discovered that they no longer make Office Home and Student 2010. Office 365 Home is a $99.99 annual subscription. Office 365 Personal is a $69.99 annual subscription. These are not standalone software discs. You have to renew them every year. That's not what I want. I wanted to find standalone software. Microsoft has Office Home and Student 2013 direct download for $139.99. That was more like what I wanted. I could also get the disc at the same price from Best Buy or someplace like that. That way if my hard drive crashes again, I could use the disc to reload the software onto a new hard drive. But I didn't like the high price and thought maybe I could find it cheaper somewhere else.

Then I searched online again and found MS Office Home and Student 2013 for $74.99 direct download at soft-depot.com. Never heard of them before, but found some good reviews on them, so I took my chances and made the purchase. They are on Pacific Time, and it was after business hours, so they'll download the software tomorrow when they open. I'm praying that all goes well. Has anyone else ever heard of Soft-Depot.com?

This little "hiccup" with my computer has put me behind schedule on writing Strong Tower. But never fear...I WILL OVERCOME!!!!