Genealogy Chat

Even if he does spend his weekends running up large phone bills with Methodist ministers............... Merry

Yes, I can pledge for Ego too O.C. A Good boy, helpful to his mum and intelligent, witty.

mmm,they sound like good breeding stock OC,and they live in Cornwall a place I am thinking of moving too- I still have my own teeth ,just about,my own house ,and no spares or wild oats....pmsl.

Oh, I thought we had a match made there old Crone until you said tall. My boy is a short ars* though simply (totally unbiased this) the most wonderful boy in the world. First Class Degree (but not in IT), gentle, kind, honest, genuine but he puts his job before girls Im afraid. So needs either a small oriental who worships the ground he walks on and doesnt whinge or a girl who has a career and doesnt mind if he disappears for a couple of weeks Better not say any more, dont want another thread deemed unsuitable!.

Heather Yes, I have a soon to be 25 year old daughter, manless! She is utterly beautiful (grrrr), tall, dark NATURALLY curly hair down to her bum. She is clever and sweet and kind and good. She goes for no-hopers though! Partition - now, I know this word. It means a) a flimsy bit of wood designed to separate one area from another. b) the partition of India, 1947. Hmm - see what I mean? How the ***** does that apply to a computer? Is yours made of wood, maybe, perhaps in India? OC

Well I had a go old crone until I was asked to 'choose your partition' - at which point, having tried to see if combing my hair on the other side worked - I gave up and took it to these kids. Im still struggling here though - tried to open some of my photos but told I didnt have a pathway or something. This is going to drive me crazy.

Heather Glad you have retrieved most but isnt it infuriating when your favourites go? I had all sorts of obscure sites in my favourites, can't even remember what they were about, let alone what they were called but all had been of some good use. I think these Young Lads at computer hospitals disapprove of old dears who dare to think they can have a pooter and they do their utmost to discourage you - bit like the Gasman who quietly disconnects the gas supply after an OAP has rung three times to say the pilot light has gone out. I explained loudly and at length to one 12 year old computer techie at the hospital that if only the ***** manual spoke English instead of Pooterese, I might stand a chance. I have never forgotten my extreme fury and grief and total incomprehension when a message popped up telling me to reconfigure my portals. I pride myself on having a wide vocabulary but this stumped me. I knew that 'portals' was something to do with a door so I flapped everything that looked like a door - no result. Eventually phoned the manufacturer (£1 a minute) where they told me in world-weary tones that this meant one of the plugs was loose! WELL WHY NOT SAY SO? OC

Ego, I shall have to look at those pen things - they dont do one that doubles as a lighter do they? About £20 you say - how much does Val owe me Merry? Crone, I was in shock when they rang and said NOTHING on your hard drive can be saved. EVERYTHING, 3 years family tree, hubbys work over last 5 years, reports, surveys everything gone. I knew I had done back up cds about a month ago, but Im not techi and I fumbled through that hand in hand with Val on here trying to work out what to do so I wasnt certain Id got it right. Last night, I put my FTM2006 program on again. Put in my Family Tree cd to 7/6/06 into the coffee cup holder and held my breath. First it said A serious internal error has occurred. At that point I seriously thought Id just pack up all the family history stuff as I couldnt stand 3 years of work gone. But I kept trying and suddenly OH PRAISE THE LORD, a little blue line started going across the page and then You have successfully backed up your tree! I went into the program and there were all my names and photos - woo hoo. I kissed my keyboard. About a month of Horsteads and Edroffs missing and of course, you forget the Outlook Express stuff is also all gone as that is on your HD. Crone - the manless daughters - not one say 20-24 ish? for my 25 year old son?

Still fumbling through all this - cant find my Pinnacle copying program anywhere now. I wouldnt mind if this was a cheapo system but it was one of the top ones from MESH. Its SO QUIET now - Id told them from the start it seemed noisy so it seems all along the HD was dodgey. Ive had the local shop put in a new one but I told the computer people to send me a new one to put in. (Im gonna get my guarantee moneys worth one way or another). So if anyone wants to buy a 200 GB HD for what £65? (RRP£86). If not, the guy at the local puter shop said he will add it onto my computer mother board or something (I dont know if this is an advantage, guess it must be). Ive got the start box thing back - I rang the puter shop who think Im a miserable old biddy now - I was a bit annoyed with them that they waited til I went to collect it at 5.30p.m to tell me they couldnt find the right drivers - 'So why didnt you phone me early and I could have rung the computer people?' We lost your number. (These are two young chaps like you always see in modern films, as puter geeks, long hair, beards - probably smoke relaxing ciggies out the back when they are repairing old dears puters). Anyway he said my resolution was too high or something. Went into display, pulled the scale thing down a bit and the start thing and the system tray appeared again. Meanwhile if anyone knows how to get the Pinnacle copying program back on here. Val, thats the three little boxes thing I told you about that you drag text, music or something else files to and the box opens and the file goes in and then its copied without any faffing.

LOL At least you have kept your sense of humour OC if not your database!! Fuzzy x

My three daughters are all manless at the moment and I am conducting interviews. Criterion is that prospective boyfriends must have a degree in Computer Studies and be able to rescue my database. OC

Welcome back Heather, I thought you were spending your cyber fivers in Las Vegas. I used to suffer from the attentions of number 2 son who has been studying for a degree in artificial intelligence and when he was younger would regularly dismantle the computer to install extra boards, sound cards etc. I used to come home from work Mum I hope you don't mind I have reformatted the hard drive.. Luckily he has his own computer now.

Heather, Lovely to have you back, place hasn't been the same without you. Do symphase, similar thing happened to me a few months after I purchased my new super duper computer, a dodgy program (cant go into what sort of program it was, lets just say it was my sixteen year old!!) downloaded from the net corrupted the whole drive (virus) luckily I had backed up the whole drive onto cd's (every computer will have a rescue program for just this eventuality, well worth doing it) I then reloaded the system, took 2 hours and a few blue words, I too had lost everything, but computer up and running in same day. Needless to say words were exchanged with child who will never do it again LOL!!! Fuzzy x

Heather - welcome back - wondered where you were. Do hope that you can successfully retrieve all your data. Just ignore Snowdrops comments that Michael´s judging was dodgy - it was very fair and she´s just jealous! Oh - sorry - should have mentioned - I WON - which made 2 competitions in one week. At this rate I won´t have to do any more look ups - will just hand my tree over to you lot and you can let me have it back when its finished!!!!

Glad to have you back Heather! I never even thought to doa back up on cd, I thought that the programme did its own back ups. Will have to pick up some cds! Lynn

Oh Heather - what a pain!! I had noted your absence and always assume it is to do with holidays when people go missing. Computers are much like cars - much loved things when they go without complaint and the bane of our lives when they don't!! As for you, Old Crone, I am failing to staunch my tears thinking of YOUR loss. One of the reasons I have been slack in adding a lot to my [home] tree is a lack of back-up facilities. I will be buying 'one of those stick things' any day now - then watch me fly!! A wet day here in Canberra (we still desperately need rain) so no guesses to what I shall be doing. Victoria

Oh, glad you're back, there we all were thinking the Tips Board was losing its Heather! Sorry to hear about your puter though. Kate.

It's an epidemic, we've had to have a new hard drive too and we''ve had this computer less than eighteen months. The engineer asked which files we'd like to save and my genealogy file is safe but isn't it a nightmare installing all the programs again? Heather

Hi Heather, Nice to see you back up and running. I know the feeling about Loosing Everything, only just got my puter back up and running, but had to have new hard drive......and the only thing the engineer could not retrieve..... you guessed it my Tree.......So I know that sinking feeling, and me like a fool had no back up, not any more got one of those things you plug in.... the stick things...... Sue

Thank goodness you are back I am not used to having spare money anymore, it a strange feeling .I suppose I had better start saving up now for any new tips coming my way???? Seriously good to see you back , and I hope you get it all up and running again.