Time lapse
When it has taken one 18 minutes to open one’s computer to Word, one gets exceedingly frustrated. That was 18 minutes where this blog could have already been a quarter written. And it wouldn’t have actually been this blog, which has created itself due to the incredible time lapse between pushing the on button and having this page materialise in front of my screen.
How do I know it was 18 minutes? Because this morning I timed it. Word and my computer, have been getting increasingly more difficult to open, so yesterday I switched the computer off at the wall, something I don’t normally do. That was a mistake, because when I turned it on, I got a message that Microsoft was updating – don’t turn off the computer, it said. After a minute or two, a 35% completion notification came up which stayed for several more minutes, before finally the computer opened, now only requiring my password.
And of course, there was more delay waiting for the page to appear so that I could push on my document. After doing so, I went to hang some washing only to come back to a blank screen. So, I pushed my blog document again. Mistake. After a further minute Word came up, telling me I could have a read only version as the document was open elsewhere, which it wasn’t. I accepted this, intending to remove it and start again, however the screen was now frozen, not allowing this process to happen. Eventually, a notice came up telling me to Hang on while Windows reports the problem to Microsoft. This might take several minutes.
Does one get my drift? I did hear of someone else having problems with Microsoft, only to find what they thought was their life-long Microsoft Word edition had actually expired. I am under the impression that this is also a life-long version. That’s how it was sold to me, anyway. So perhaps I am in the same boat and Microsoft has decided that I need to pay again, rather than just receiving regular updates. It was interesting waiting this morning, because I had not pushed any update buttons. Perhaps they do this at night after I have switched my computer off, though not at the wall. Is it possible to do this?
On the subject of what companies can do, a post came up on Facebook warning that those who downloaded the Temu ap, would be at risk of people gathering a vast amount of personal information. I had done so on my phone, so decided, as I wasn’t actually using it, to uninstall. Every single ad, on every game I play is now inundated with Temu adds. They have certainly infiltrated my phone.
And on the subject of believing one has signed up for life-long membership, I was caught out when I revisited a weight-loss company, some years back. When they asked for more money, I pointed out that I had paid extra the last time, for the privilege of being able to use their services whenever I wanted to in the future. As I didn’t have my documentation to prove this, they were able to say that that was not possible as they didn’t allow this. But I distinctly remember choosing the more expensive option. Sneaky marketing skills. If they wait long enough, people forget and lose their receipts. This is probably how these companies operate.
Bit of a rant this morning. As I said, not my intended topic to write about… but at least I’ve got the frustration off my chest. And guess what, Microsoft appears to be behaving awfully well…spoke too soon. It won’t let me open file to save. Grrr. And getting on to the internet to post this was slow too.