![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I got a new computer a week and a half ago, to replace the previous machine which died last month. I have spent most of my non-work time over the last week and a half in the incredibly tedious, frustrating process of transferring settings and files from the old machine, re-installing software, and generally setting things up to let me do what I was doing before. (Between bouts of snow shovelling, of course.)
I've been fighting with driver-installation systems that don't work properly automatically but won't let me do things manually. For example, it used to be possible to go to the HP website, specify which printer you had, and download the latest drivers for it. Now you have to work through their automated system which uses an ActiveX control which runs only under Internet Explorer (not FireFox) to scan your computer for installed printers and checks the drivers. In my case, it found and identified the LaserJet 6L printer, and spent about 20 minutes downloading updated drivers... and when I tried to print out a test page (my shopping list) I started getting page after page of garbage. Because it had replaced working (if out-of-date) drivers for my 6L printer with PostScript drivers for a 6M printer.
The support software for my digital camera had a glitch during installation. Some files weren't installed -- including the files necessary for uninstallation. So there was no way to get the software to uninstall, but when I tried to re-install in the hope of getting the remaining files, the installer told me that "This software has already been installed; it is unnecessary to install it again" and refused to proceed. I spent an evening going through the "troubleshooting" procedure, without useful progress. I ended up having to restore the machine to the previous day's state, and redo everything I'd done that day. I suppose I should be glad that the system had created a "restore point" to revert to.
I've been fighting with driver-installation systems that don't work properly automatically but won't let me do things manually. For example, it used to be possible to go to the HP website, specify which printer you had, and download the latest drivers for it. Now you have to work through their automated system which uses an ActiveX control which runs only under Internet Explorer (not FireFox) to scan your computer for installed printers and checks the drivers. In my case, it found and identified the LaserJet 6L printer, and spent about 20 minutes downloading updated drivers... and when I tried to print out a test page (my shopping list) I started getting page after page of garbage. Because it had replaced working (if out-of-date) drivers for my 6L printer with PostScript drivers for a 6M printer.
The support software for my digital camera had a glitch during installation. Some files weren't installed -- including the files necessary for uninstallation. So there was no way to get the software to uninstall, but when I tried to re-install in the hope of getting the remaining files, the installer told me that "This software has already been installed; it is unnecessary to install it again" and refused to proceed. I spent an evening going through the "troubleshooting" procedure, without useful progress. I ended up having to restore the machine to the previous day's state, and redo everything I'd done that day. I suppose I should be glad that the system had created a "restore point" to revert to.
