It Takes a Village to Raise a Computer

I’m so happy that my computer is now up and running. It was a nightmare week. We thought my computer had a virus but it was actually a bad hard drive. Thanks to the help of numerous people, my computer is alive and well.  Here are the MVPs—truly amazing people who helped us through our computer fiasco.

1. KFE Microsystems These guys were great. It cost $75 for them to diagnose the problem. Jeremy, the owner called hubby and let him know that it was a hard drive problem. He also let hubby know that he could probably recover 90% of the data and let us know about the coupon in the paper for $75 off. After the coupon, we paid $175 and received 5 dvds full of stuff that was recovered. Hooray for that!

2. My brother, Jeremy Lane, who says he dislikes tech support…totally rocks! I called to consult with him about getting a new hard drive and he gave me the tip to go to Fry’s Electronics. He also said he had all of the data recovery software and what not, but the computer was already in the shop. He said installing a new hard drive was a cinch and boy, was he right! We saved so much money installing it ourselves.

We went to Fry’s Electronics…which is a maze of a store.  We talked to two techies who spoke really fast and quietly so I had a hard time listening as well as understanding their techie lingo. Once again, I called in backup….my brother! He saved the day with info that was easy to understand and he guided us to pick out a hard drive that suited our needs.

Fry’s on the other hand was not helpful. I had to strong arm a salesman to get a circular (finally got it after asking the second sales guy) and found the store to be hard to navigate. Plus prices are actually cheaper online at Fry’s so I found that totally discouraging. I could have saved $10 by shopping at home and that includes shipping. So total downgrade to Fry’s! And major kudos to my brother who also assisted in helping us set up our partition. THANK YOU JEREMY!

3. Anther big thank you goes to my hubby who heard me complain, even cry (yes, I am pathetic!) and still went to work trying to diagnose the problem and later searched the house high and low for our Windows software. He installed all the programs and gets total bonus points for not once swearing at the screen. I do wish I could say the same of my behavior.

Anyway, I learned lots from the process and I am very thankful for a working computer and the MVPs. These rockstars will forever be my heroes!