Tag Archives: computers

gator’s still got me

12 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in internet, websites

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So after a brief stint with SiteGround earlier this week, looks like HostGator’s still got me. Mostly because SiteGround didn’t offer enough space and HostGator was refusing to refund the money remaining on my account with them (paid up until June 2020).

However HG did agree to upgrade me to a business package at no extra cost, so what the hell. I don’t think there’s really much difference between these hosting places, and I may have had the same shitty “service” from any of them during my hacking crisis.

The place that did the data base cleaning also offers a hosting service, which they claim is much more secure than anything these big companies provide, but it also costs more than twice as much and, as I say, HostGator was not letting go of my money. So for now I will stay where I am and stay on top of things, like updates, etc. as well as adding extra security.

hacked!

13 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by in computers

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What a day! Woke up to discover that ALL my websites had been blocked by my server HostGator – I was told they had been using too much CPU over an extended period of time. Say what?? I’d been having some problems with one site, which was linking to a page in Japanese when some people tried to access it, but I thought that had been sorted out.

Anyhow, with the help of my friend David, we worked out that the sites had been hacked, and David was able to get into the CPanel and remove the unwanted files, re-verified all my sites with Google (the hackers had changed the ownership to THEM!) and changed the passwords. I would have been totally lost without him. Phew! So now I have to get the site brought up to date in terms of plug-ins and php, then look at getting additional security –  wish me luck!

adiós sterling, sayonara loki!

01 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, computers, friends

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Ever since I upgraded to the Boquerón I have been planning on wiping the drive on Sterling so that my friend Tomoko could buy it. To be honest, I kept putting it off because I’d never done this before and it seemed more than somewhat daunting. But when Tomoko said she would be in Sevilla for a couple of days and wanted to take Sterling home I was forced into action. And well, it wasn’t that bad after all, but it did take a very long time (approx 10 hours). The first attempt failed after a couple of hours and I had to start over again. But second time lucky and when I got back from my tour in the evening there was a squeaky clean laptop ready for its new home.

So Tomoko came over yesterday and we set up the newly-named Loki to make sure everything was working okay. After that we went shopping for a case and then Loki the Laptop was gone. Though of course Tomoko didn’t leave without giving Loki the Cat a thorough belly rub.

If anyone is interested, these were the instructions I followed…
How To Reset Your Windows 10 PC

anchoa revived!

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in computers, work

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In other home computer news… about two years after buying La Anchoa as a travel notebook option back in 2014 (instead of lugging my big 17″ guy around on trips) I began having problems with her screen. It starting flickering on one trip to Málaga, and in the end it got so bad I had to give up and just use my iphone. Then one day it went flickery-flickery-flickery and totally died. Damn. At the time I thought that it probably wouldn’t be worth taking her in to be fixed, but I also didn’t want to fork out for another small travel option. So oh well. It was adiós Anchoa and back to either taking massive laptop with me or working from the iPhone (NOT ideal) on trips.

Then the other day, while reading the specs on El Boquerón (shit, I’ve already named him!) I noticed that he has a touch screen, something I hadn’t noticed at the store. And then I thought… hey, Anchoa has a touch screen too. Hmmm, I wonder…

So after not having used her since 2016 I took my little Anchoa out of hibernation, revved her up, saw the old flickery-flickery thing start up… and then I TOUCHED THE SCREEN. And hey – problem solved! I mean, fucking DUH or what? Why hadn’t I thought of that before??

And the best thing? Picasa works just fine on her! I can upload my photos and they all show up, ready to be edited and sorted. Yay! There was a tense moment when suddenly Windows starting doing updates (well, it had been two years…) and I thought I might lose Picasa like I did on Sterling. But so far so good! Of course, editing photos is primarily why I want to have a nice big 17.3″ screen at home, so now having to do it on a tiny 11.6″ screen kind of defeats that purpose. But at least I can do it. So for now my little Anchoa is set up next to my desk, propped up on a stack of books, acting as my photo editing assistant.

Now I just have to decide if I’m keeping El Boquerón…

accidental upgrade

08 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in computers, devices, geekiness

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Oops, I did it again. Well sort of. Maybe. Before I went away to the Basque Country I was having some “issues” with Sterling, mostly to do with things bogging down and running slow, including frustrating totally unresponsive moments, requiring me to reboot, sometimes 2-3 times. So I started thinking about upgrading, then saw that Sterling is only 3 years old. I mean, shouldn’t these things last longer?? Mind you, The Greyhound was also 3 years old when I replaced him with Sterling. But Peter inherited The Greyhound, so that was okay, and he worked with him for another three years, glitches and all, until he died a sudden death in July, requiring the emergency purchase of Silver. But it also meant Peter lost everything, something that strikes a note of terror inside me, even though I do make backups frequently(ish).

This is all to say that, if Peter hadn’t already bought a new laptop, then at this point I would be happy to pass Sterling on to him, as he doesn’t spend as much time on his computer as I do. He also has much less content stored, etc. And then I would feel justified upgrading. But now I’m not sure what to do, especially as I actually purchased this new fabulous beast the other day as “insurance” while it was on sale at 15% off. It’s still in the box, so I can return it any time… but do I want to?

It’s weird because I have no qualms about updating my iPhones every three years or so. Then again I usually have someone who wants my old ones. But what to do with Sterling? I mean, he mostly works well. And perhaps if I stripped him back to factory settings, removing all my shit, he would be much friskier. Having said that, he has been behaving much better since I got home (figures).

How often do you upgrade your laptop?

Below you can see the specs …

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