Sunday 5 October 2014

If it ain't broke.......

Why is it that every now and again everything has to be turned a*** over tip when some whizz-kid decides to up-date one way of doing things on the computer for something 'better'?

I am not all that computer-literate.   I don't, on the whole, surf the internet unless I wish to buy clothes (we live a long way from shops and in any case trying the clothes on in changing rooms is a no-no).   What I do regularly I am happy with - I blog, I answer blogs, I shop, I visit Amazon, I search for different poems to read at our Poetry afternoons, I take photographs and feed them in, I order my weekly shopping from Tesco and I have lots of e-mails.

Suddenly BT have decided to 'update' their system of e mails and I am stuck, well and truly.   I  was sure that I knew my password  - in any case BT remembers it for me - so I began the process of up-dating to the new system.   I quickly came up against a problem as BT said my password was not correct.  When they directed me to making a new password they asked for my security 'favourite name'.   Did I at one time put one in?   If so, I don't remember.   That is when the trouble really started.

I spent an hour trying to sort it out.   Yesterday friend S very kindly also spent an hour, ending up chatting 'on-line' with a 'helper' about it all.   Last night my son spent another hour trying to sort it out.   All to no avail.   The result is that my e mails are no longer accessible and this means that tomorrow (hopefully, if he can spare the time) the man who looks after my computer for me will have to come and sort it out.

This is really another irritating thing about advancing years.   Obviously I need to ring up BT and discuss the issue but I can't because I hear very poorly on the telephone, being very deaf.  I feel like beginning to make a list of all the disadvantages to being over eighty.

1.   Can't hear properly on the telephone.
2.   Having to deal with 'cold calls' is driving me mad (I have to get up, get to the phone,answer it only to find someone is trying to sell me solar panels (we already have them in any case) - and why is it always a meal times?
3.   The format on my computer changes and I am thrown into a state of confusion.

Enough of this moaning - I am still alive and kicking and enjoying life apart from 1,2 and 3 above and what is that compared with what some folk have to endure?

Lovely day here - the last for a while according to the forecast.   The farmer is going mad in the front garden, cutting everything back, digging up the invasion of Japanese anemones (no, he will never win that battle as their roots are under the path).   I am off into town once the shops open at 10.30 - we need milk and I need a nice new notebook in which to copy (neatly and in an orderly fashion) all my passwords.   I might even find that favourite name that BT are hounding me for!


18 comments:

Rachel Phillips said...

If it is any consolation to you Weave I am on BT and this happened to me a few nights ago. BT have an automatic security system (I have now learned) that activates if they think your account has been compromised. I was awake in the middle of the night and checked my emails and found one from a friend in the States who has never emailed me before. I opened it and decided to answer it, but it wouldn't send. I logged out of my email account and then couldn't get into it anymore. I was told my user id and password were incorrect. This went on for 24 hours and then lo and behold it was suddenly alright again. Perhaps yours will come back in the same way.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Large modern companies have people whose sole job is to innovate and develop the system. If they ever get it perfect they will be out of a job of course. Are you beginning to see what's happening......?

Linda Metcalf said...

After the same thing happening to us...I wrote every password down and sat it in the desk below the computer keyboard. I got tired of trying to talk to teckkies whose language is certainly not English!

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

I had dutifully tried to pay a certain bill online each month. It always went something like this:

You haven't set up an account. Yes, I have. Well then you have to delete your account and start again. Already did that. Well, your password is wrong. Well, then send me the right one. So they send it. It is the exact one I am tying to use. And it Still doesn't work. So, I call them up once a month now, and pay by phone.

And I am fairly computer savvy and only 59 ½. So, it ain't your age, dear Pat!

thelma said...

The new notebook must be filled in tidily, not like mine! Really at the back of your mind you should have half a dozen 'favourite words/numbers', and stick to one favoured pet, where you were born, another one 'what is the name of your mother'. I can muddle all these up quite easily, and then spend hours trying to work them out!
Another trick, use Saxon or Old English words,....

Cro Magnon said...

Dear Weaver, do remember that telephones do NOT have to be answered (especially at lunchtime). If it's important they'll always ring back!

Joanne Noragon said...

I keep my list on the wall and copy it over from time to time when I have scribbled new passwords too often, as I do not take the list down to write new words.

Heather said...

I have a little notebook for computer passwords and procedures to save me from bothering my daughter too much. However, if it came to phoning a helpline she would have to do that as, although I am lucky enough to have good hearing, I don't speak computer language! I have been making the most of the good weather and wearing myself out in the garden. I have to do it as my husband would cut down or pull up all the wrong things. A bit more weeding to do and then I can spread some compost around.

Mac n' Janet said...

Our email system recently changed too, I don't have any trouble accessing it, I just don't like the new version.

jinxxxygirl said...

Gosh i know thats terribly frustrating Weaver! I try to keep everything written down somewhere but you know some things slip thru the cracks.....It could have been worse..lets see... the person on the phone trying to help could not have spoken good english where your helpers could understand him... that would have been frustrating too and i have had that happen.....
You know what? I think you are doing beautifully for your age and are more active than many people i know younger than you!Big Hugs! deb

Gwil W said...

You could always change your email address- That's as easy as falling off a log.

Virginia said...

But then Gwil W you have to contact all your friends and tell them ... and then their computers keep trying to use the old address because it's got logged in their computer's memory (or somewhere... I've never managed to find where to delete obsolete addresses) and so it goes on.

I feel for you Pat, I'm also deaf and hate the phone, although I do have a cordless I can take to my chair and use on speaker phone.

I hope your 'boffin' can sort your problem for you, and leave clear directions for next time!!

angryparsnip said...

I agree with everything you said.
I have a password book.
For companies I despise, who say I don't have a password and takes me days to straighten out, like your BT my passwords are mean like "this company is sh**t" I know it is childish but makes me feel better.

cheers, parsnip

Terry and Linda said...

We have Japanese Anemone as specialty bulbs in the stores. Just reading about their invasive habit made me go...........NO WAY HERE!!!

This is something Fuzzy has never ever done! THANKFULLY! He was really pleased with himself and extremely stinky! I mean so bad it wafted throughout the whole yard...I'm sure a skunk would smell better!

Then on the walk home he actually pranced he was having such a great time! Giving him the bath was horrendous I thought I was going to throw-up more than once!

Ugh! What a mess! He smells nice now...and had better stay that way! I could let him continue to smell like that for his dog house would absorb the smell and I would have to throw it away.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I'm with you - if it ain't broke - don't fix it. What we say around here when something changes on the computer and we are not catching on - we say "give a kid a computer and watch out". Seems that the younger set likes to change up things just to be changing - and that doesn't always sit well with us - we like what we are used to.

A while back someone in Europe somehow figured out my password to my email and signed in. Gmail immediately sent me an urgent message asking if I was travelling to Europe because if I was not, then someone had my email PW and could probably get into more than just my email. I responded that I was indeed NOT in Europe (glad they were keeping tabs on my location) and that I was quickly changing passwords on all matters, email, banking, etc. and then I had to write them all down - as some needed just letters, some needed letters and numbers and some needed one capital, letters, one number and a symbol. I keep a list of all passwords in a text file in my word processing program in the computer - along with prompts like favorite name, first pet, name of city you were born in, in case they ask for those things now and then - and print out a copy from time to time for Don to have in his files - just in case. That way I can just open the file on the computer and look up the password - which I've been doing a lot since all the changes - but better safe than sorry.

We too are having a lovely weekend - the last for a while I fear as the rains are coming - but since we are in the second year of a drought we do need the rain for the snow on the mountains, where we get our drinking water. Lovely day though - I just spent an hour on the deck deadheading flowers and enjoying the lovely weather and the birds, and the neighbors strolling by.

A Heron's View said...

Hello Pat,
I keep all of my passwords etc in a small book alongside my computer. The only number that I have never bothered to remember is my mobile phone as I don't see the point of doing so.
We can set the volume level on our phone, doesn't your have that ?

MorningAJ said...

I abandoned BT years ago. They are always trouble.

The Weaver of Grass said...

All's well that ends well! Thanks for the comfort!