Challenges of the Computer Age

Computers are so expensive. They are beyond my limited financial capacity to buy new.  When my Dell tower finally died, that my brother gave me, I was in a world of hurt.  I'd gotten most of my files off it onto an external drive before it failed, at least.

I was good though, back then, when the Dell failed.  I had a laptop I'd been using, donated by a Nebraska friend.  I loved it.  It had Picasa on it, my favorite photo storage and manipulation program of all time.  Google bought it out, then discontinued its support so you can no longer download it.  Getting a laptop sent me that still had Picasa on it and Windows 7 was wonderful.  The battery on it could not longer hold a charge when she sent it, but that didn't matter.  I just plugged it in.

Then someone else donated a tower they had used for work and then stored in a closet.  It was very very slow, for surfing however, and would spool if I tried to watch a video.  The screen would go blank when it refreshed and then it would blip every refresh, to the top of any webpage.  So I never used it for internet, only for my nonprofit records.  I used the laptop for internet.

A few days ago, without warning, the laptop crashed one morning when I turned it on.  It tried to recover for hours but never did.   I felt sad.   Now what.  I still had a laptop someone else donated, that they didn't use anymore.  It was also old and had been used for gaming.

I had used it a couple times briefly but turned to it after the Nebraska laptop failed.  However, it would heat up after minimal use, hot to the touch, so hot I was scared it would catch fire and thought maybe I should put it outside.  I'm scared to use it anymore.

Now I'm left with the old tower. Which I hooked to internet and am using to post this.  I can post with it, but not do video and have to be very very patient to do anything online on it.  However, its gotten bad with my documents, allowing me to only open a couple of files before it freezes.   I had transferred my HCC files to a thumb drive, and was going to compile the data for the annual report to the IRS and justice department of our state on the laptop. Then the laptop failed.  Now what, how do I get that done, I wonder to myself.

Maybe I should have gone low tech with my records.  I've always kept such good records, easily searchable too, but only if I have access to a computer that works right.    I have to find one to do the annual reports for the business.  Then maybe I'll need to rely for records on my human computer---my brain.  Yikes.

As for internet, I guess for now I won't be on it much.  Or only when I have a lot of time to wait on pages to load.

UPDATE:  Looks like I'm covered.   Got an offer of a tower someone doesn't use and a tablet too from someone else.  Thanks to Andrea and Dianna for the help!