Like many people of my vintage I still have great difficulty installing a video player and programming my recorder however I am finally starting to get on top of mobile phones and many of the consumer items I would describe as being more of the ‘low technology’ variety.
Which I guess is a roundabout way of me saying that the other pieces of modern wizardry, that seem to come on to the market every second day, still have the capacity to annoy the hell out of me.
For example, I’m sure everyone who surfs the web or uses email regularly knows the sheer frustration of being suddenly disconnected or unexpectedly going ‘offline’ as the techos would say.
Last weekend my patience was sorely tried when my wife’s Google homepage wouldn’t come up on her iMac and the email program was also sending her regular messages saying the POP mail server was not responding.
Now to put this in to perspective you must realise that Sundays are usually reserved for writing and sub-editing blogs for our various weekly e-magazines - it’s quite time consuming and is definitely not helped when the technology, that’s meant to be making these things easier … suddenly goes on the blink.
Of course, the first thing to remember when dealing with the internet and computers in general is don’t panic and check all the basics, such as:
• Is the power plug in properly? I’m not joking ask any Support person and they will tell you it’s often overlooked – even by supposedly advanced users.
• Are all the cords/leads to the various routers, modems, printers and other devices in place? Often just fixing connections or inserting plugs properly will do the trick.
• Many devices will need to be initialised which usually means the power has to be disconnected for a couple of minutes and then reconnected i.e. don’t rely on just switching off and on again.
• Free support services can have their moments – but Ozemail (now iinet) were excellent when I resorted to their services (on a Sunday) – it turned out to be a faulty modem. And you can’t just replace the hardware you must first Log In online and install all your settings starting with your User Name and Password.
• Then there’s the downright freaky things that happen on the internet. Just to confuse matters on Sunday the Google server seemed to be down – the Australian one that is not Mountain View. The web and email use different ports on your ISP’s servers.
• With PCs or Macs if all else fails: re-boot.
And if none of the above helps … reach for the cheque book and let the pain really begin. | 
Tell me about it! As a loyal Telstra customer, I seldom phone Bigpond Help Line, as I am fearful someone will find my skeleton in my office chair some months later still connected to Bigpond.
by Fergie
31 Oct 08 11:21