tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post2822075992763136016..comments2024-03-18T09:09:59.625-04:00Comments on Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Hasta la vista, Tekserve!Janet Reidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00615380335938685231noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-74873888155936154452011-04-14T14:18:53.385-04:002011-04-14T14:18:53.385-04:00J,
Come on.
You could've called me...or sent...J,<br /><br />Come on.<br /><br />You could've called me...or sent me a message via carrier pigeon...or just, I dunno, Tweeted?<br /><br />Oy. All that time spent when you could've just asked me *sigh* <br /><br />AND<br /><br />My IT services comes with CUPCAKES (a little ass backward, but hey, whatevs)<br /><br /><3 / KOKathleen Ortizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17366277556486296318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-43192114957844999372011-04-13T18:50:44.438-04:002011-04-13T18:50:44.438-04:00Carbonite.com
I've had to use it twice. Plus...Carbonite.com <br /><br />I've had to use it twice. Plus I can access any file anytime from any computer.Kittyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11772310179223546476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-2684573712711655932011-04-13T17:32:08.107-04:002011-04-13T17:32:08.107-04:00Another thing to remember is that anything that ca...Another thing to remember is that anything that can be installed from a separate disc or re-downloaded from the site where you bought it doesn't need to be backed up. So for example, you only need to back up your spreadsheets and emails and documents and anything else you create, but not MS Office or your OS or games. <br /><br />And I, too, recommend doing backups to the cloud by using a service like Dropbox or Sugar Sync. You can sync up multiple computers to the same account, so you'll have updated copies on each computer plus a copy on their server.DeadlyAccuratehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08361707307035259942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-63892262049836126242011-04-13T16:20:44.033-04:002011-04-13T16:20:44.033-04:00Wow, I've never heard of Tekserve either, but ...Wow, I've never heard of Tekserve either, but I agree... stay away from them. I can't believe they were going to charge you that much to recover your data. That's HORRIBLE! <br /><br />My husband works in IT, so I'm REALLY lucky I never have to worry about that. However, the weekend that I was finishing/polishing my first and only novel before it went to press, my hard drive crashed. We managed to recover everything EXCEPT my email contacts, and, of course, the email address for the editor that I was supposed to send my novel to was among the corrupted files. Luckily, I had printed out a couple of emails from another contact person at the publishing house, and she was kind enough to forward my work to the appropriate person.<br /><br />Anyway, I came across your site on Absolutewrite... just thought I'd take a look at your hints on queries and such. I've been writing screenplays for the last five years, and now I'm working on a memoir.<br /><br />Thanks for all the helpful info on your site!<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />Lynne Logan<br />Columbus, OH<br />P.S. Jim Thompson (the author of Snow Angels) is my ex-husband. Small world, huh?LLoganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04662612604997967498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-26201305996099116362011-04-13T05:46:32.676-04:002011-04-13T05:46:32.676-04:00Dropbox! It's free and if you need more space,...Dropbox! It's free and if you need more space, you can buy it :)Lainahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00134705793566699951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-71953678214735551542011-04-12T15:26:58.670-04:002011-04-12T15:26:58.670-04:00Bill E. Goat: Wicked fairy! I'll defend my mis...Bill E. Goat: Wicked fairy! I'll defend my mistress to the death ... umm maybe to a near death experience! or umm I'll eat your hard drive!<br /><br />Me: Bill, what ARE you mumbling about?<br /><br />Bill: It’s the plot for my new book. I’m sure Janet will want it.Sha'el, Princess of Pixieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14049854555801812071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-66322538293639014242011-04-12T13:52:52.505-04:002011-04-12T13:52:52.505-04:00I've always had great luck with the Apple Geni...I've always had great luck with the Apple Genius bar. I love that you can make an appointment online. They have never tried to trick me into fixing something that isn't broken, and they don't charge $600 to back up your data. <br /><br />Speaking of backup, I use Carbonite for online backup and then I have an external hard drive running Time Machine. The last time I had a hard drive issue, the drive was replaced and Time Machine restored all my files/software just like it was. Awesome!<br /><br />Also, you can check for yourself if the hard drive has bad sectors with the OS disk. There's a utility on there that will run a hard drive test. That way you can know before you go that the hard drive has real issues.Melindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03922924267691639788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-18804323111993291882011-04-11T15:13:30.924-04:002011-04-11T15:13:30.924-04:00This is when you (I am including myself in this; I...This is when you (I am including myself in this; I just went throught his recently. Turned out it was the motherboard that fried. That could also be your problem.) go and get an external hard drive and put all the files and programs on that. Just in case.JVRChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11467257065784931223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-5359146470210200262011-04-11T13:53:24.873-04:002011-04-11T13:53:24.873-04:00Funny...^-^...
You poor dear. All that sounds ex...Funny...^-^...<br /><br />You poor dear. All that sounds exhausting. I'm glad you recovered everything. I'm always paranoid about saving. You gotta love technology.Laila Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430076999393883312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-44426919091846310312011-04-11T13:39:05.642-04:002011-04-11T13:39:05.642-04:00My wife is echoing Carradee on the "repair pe...My wife is echoing Carradee on the "repair permissions" - which is what your OS redo probably already did.<br /><br />She also said you can zap your PRAM but you would need to research that one as it can mess with your preferences. And she's not sure if you can still do it on newer Macs.Sarah Laurensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09252565450452195395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-85023671818682313382011-04-11T12:36:54.687-04:002011-04-11T12:36:54.687-04:00I'm glad you were able to recover your data, J...I'm glad you were able to recover your data, Janet. The world of information technology, and especially IT support, is nearly as subjective as publishing, so it's a great thing that you didn't listen to that person.<br /><br />In the future, if you're going to work on Windows computers, I would highly recommend storing your information on removable media, like a USB drive, flash or otherwise. At the very least if you keep it on the same drive as the OS, back it up often.<br /><br />If you decide to buy Apple, and start running OSX, the chances of the OS crashing or becoming corrupted are far less, but you should still back up.Matthew MacNishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03264738483763244969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-87647097342127063602011-04-11T08:38:11.905-04:002011-04-11T08:38:11.905-04:00Roll on the day when they can programme machines w...Roll on the day when they can programme machines with emotions. Perhaps then I'll be able to coax my rickety old laptop into good behaviour by shaking my fist at it and letting my finger hover threateningly over the power button. <br /><br />Until then I'm putty in the hands of the tech gurus...Robert Clearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15483171151721144134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-74523248253909027912011-04-11T08:20:52.755-04:002011-04-11T08:20:52.755-04:00Something else that can help: Open "Disk Util...Something else that can help: Open "Disk Utility" and run "repair permissions" on your hard drive. (Open Computer, then Applications, then Utilities; it'll be in there.)<br /><br />Also, there's a program called DiskWarrior that can fix Mac software issues that Disk Utility can't touch, as long as it's software (programs). It costs about $100, but I've found it to be worth it.<br /><br />You only ever need to buy a new hard drive when there's something physically wrong with the drive, which makes the issue a hardware problem.<br /><br />As far as backups, I recently got CrashPlan. It took most of the 30-day demo to get all my data backed up (my computer's old and slow), but it's inexpensive to get online storage that's Unlimited. It frequently scans your hard drive for updated files to copy, and you can set it so it only copies files when they're closed, which helps avoid corruption.<br /><br />Er, just this Mac user's thoughts.Carradeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05431561739001270522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-18923298188894303322011-04-10T23:48:08.623-04:002011-04-10T23:48:08.623-04:00My goal in life (besides getting my YA fiction pub...My goal in life (besides getting my YA fiction published by a major house) is to work in the Apple Store's Genius Bar. Anyway, my recommendation for your office is Apple's Time Capsule, which serves as both a wireless router and an external backup drive. It's really easy to set up and use with Time Machine, as long as you have Mac OS 10.5 or later; Time Machine can back up automatically at intervals that you specify. One thing to keep in mind is that the drive is prone to overheating, so make sure it's located in a relatively cool spot with good ventilation--not on the radiator or under a pile of unread manuscripts, in other words.<br /><br />And since you shouldn't put all your backup eggs in one basket, I recommend that you also use an online backup system, such as Apple's Mobile Me service or one of the ones in the comments above. The Apple service costs $99/year, but they take $20 off if you buy it with a new computer.<br /><br />The fact that your hard drive started to falter after you messed with the languages in your OS is a tip-off that the OS was probably corrupted--which would call for a reinstallation of the OS rather than a replacement of the hard drive. However, if your Mac happens to be the black MacBook, aka Black Beauty, the Tekserve employee probably reacted to the fact that those hard drives have an unusually high failure rate and are covered by a special extended warranty.Lyn Miller-Lachmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01939121876262433495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-44224037392076668692011-04-10T23:29:46.271-04:002011-04-10T23:29:46.271-04:00Online back-up: Mozy or Backblaze. Five buck a mon...Online back-up: Mozy or Backblaze. Five buck a month for infinite peace of mind no matter how messed up your computer or idiotic your tech support.Liesl Shurtliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09064620851881036609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-75841198727830423582011-04-10T23:03:26.002-04:002011-04-10T23:03:26.002-04:00Glad you were able to save your data! I just lost ...Glad you were able to save your data! I just lost a month's worth of revisions because I had been saving my sole copy on a flash drive that up and died. A flash drive! What was I thinking? No backups! I'd cry for myself but I'm already paralyzed by my own stupidity.Rachel Searleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09413906883952940334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-86957872656276005232011-04-10T21:01:02.075-04:002011-04-10T21:01:02.075-04:00Almost sixteen years ago, I fell in love with and ...Almost sixteen years ago, I fell in love with and married my very own geek. That's when the magic began (get your mind out of the gutter).<br /><br />Best damn decision of my life!<br /><br />I've spent almost 16 glorious years absolutely clueless to the trials my friends have with their computers. I don't install thingymajigs and whatchyamacallits. All I have to do is buy things that plug in and a few hours later they work.<br /><br />When my computers acts up, I call my hubby and say "it's broken." And, I ABSOLUTELY know magic is real because when I turn on my computer the next day - IT WORKS! MAGIC!<br /><br />We have our own personal cloud. I was a little concerned at first because the cloud is odorless and colorless. But, after my hubby explained what it was, I cancelled the call to the fire dept. <br /><br />I don't have to backup, because some computer in our basement saves stuff automatically. MAGIC!<br /><br />That's my geek story *places cool sunglasses on face and leans back*Shannon Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06346078649346825497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-1912982391110362882011-04-10T20:59:09.951-04:002011-04-10T20:59:09.951-04:00Reminds me of the time, about ten years ago, when ...Reminds me of the time, about ten years ago, when a mechanic told me I needed a new computer something or other in my car and I spent 600.00 to do it. I know nothing about cars, so I listened. After that, the car still wasn't running normally. So I went to another mechanic and he put in a new spark plug for fifty bucks and the car was perfect.ryan fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13361694356025572544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-30637486898182388102011-04-10T17:47:49.711-04:002011-04-10T17:47:49.711-04:00The age-old dilemma of how to safely back up data....The age-old dilemma of how to safely back up data. Ideally, yes, you want to have a fully automatic system in place so you don't have to worry about losing much, but external hard drives can fail, too, and if you're like me you can't resist the urge to use that space for more than just duplicating your data. <br /><br />Instead of routine full backups of your drive, I would suggest an image of your drive where you have all your programs and settings how you like them. This can be safely stored, and you don't have to worry about the mechanism of constantly backing up.<br /><br />For more current work, I would suggest the almighty Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) to synchronize files you select online and across multiple computers. Automatic, secure, backups. I use it for all my writing because of sheer paranoia, and the convenience of using the file on one computer, closing it down, and then popping open my netbook to resume work on it using the same file without ever having to copy it over myself. Depending on your email set up, it should be able to back those up as well so you don't lose out on important communications.<br /><br />I'm not a Mac user, but a quick search turns up Onyx (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/onyx.html) as a software for cleaning out the system and grabbing back HD space. It's Ccleaner for Mac from what I understand.<br /><br />It's a shame the place you had been a loyal customer stopped caring. It sounds like they were doing what was easiest for them instead of what was best for you.A3Writerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798698147826674020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-15081987818996478392011-04-10T15:10:55.848-04:002011-04-10T15:10:55.848-04:00So that's what you've been up to.
I'...So that's what you've been up to. <br /><br />I'm sorry about your hiccup, but happy for the resolution and life lesson.<br />I've never had any luck with those places: the employees are usually either unwilling or unable to fix complex problems. It is more cost effective to adhere to boiler plate resolutions and/or sell new parts/systems.<br />If you want a real good time, try returning defective software...jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16489502078962823639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-61316352601585757812011-04-10T14:51:30.970-04:002011-04-10T14:51:30.970-04:00That is so true. My dad went to two different car...That is so true. My dad went to two different cardiologists who listened for five minutes to his symptoms and then recommended an invasive surgery they thought most likely to fix the problem, even though they weren't sure what was causing it. He finally found another cardiologist who took a complete history and physical. Lo and behold, that physician determined the cause of his symptom and prescribed a much-less traumatic solution. Sometimes the best thing any of us can do is shut up and listen for just a few minutes longer.Shaunnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06542124673668776592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-33171144851197368232011-04-10T13:34:05.364-04:002011-04-10T13:34:05.364-04:00Robin Ruinsky: External hard drives are awesome ex...<b>Robin Ruinsky:</b> External hard drives are awesome <i>except</i> when someone breaks into your house and steals it too.<br /><br />I backup to an external hard drive and to one remote location.jjdebenedictishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16950592240599703771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-2453298667125507952011-04-10T13:07:07.338-04:002011-04-10T13:07:07.338-04:00Three words for you Janet:
External Hard Drive
B...Three words for you Janet:<br /><br />External Hard Drive<br /><br />Buy one. Cherish it. Hook it up and back up your computer. <br /><br />Online backups are great. Someone mentioned Mozy.<br /><br />But...<br /><br />External hard drive<br /><br />Your new BTB...Best Technical Buddy<br /><br />Computer Years are not the equivalent to human years. They age<br />like a piece of fruit left to shrivel in the summer sun.Robin Ruinskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16192791209077069748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-88330402741475243812011-04-10T12:45:07.815-04:002011-04-10T12:45:07.815-04:00My husband is growing his computer service and rep...My husband is growing his computer service and repair business.<br /><br />He's looking for good techs to hire.You have the drive, creativity and perseverance needed in a good computer tech.<br /><br />I can put in a good word for you if you'd like.<br /><br />You might have to move to Michigan though.Dawnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01634103910786618206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-54197176369766066832011-04-10T10:30:00.366-04:002011-04-10T10:30:00.366-04:00M. A. Leslie - I have a saying hanging on my kiche...M. A. Leslie - I have a saying hanging on my kichen wall which says:<br /><br />If a man is alone in the woods and speaks, and there is no wife to hear him, is he STILL WRONG ?Carolynnwith2Nshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18394998702410764388noreply@blogger.com