We all do stupid things. Me, most recently. I downloaded something I really, REALLY shouldn't have. I know better, I'm a tech for chrissakes! I tried everything I knew to fix it but it just wasn't working. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I got several messages from my credit card company.
Yes, someone was making charges (all denied) to my card. I'd been hacked and I was truly disappointed in myself! How could I let this happen? The only way out was to wipe the entire computer and start new. I really did not want to do this. I have multiple megs of pictures and 3 years of stuff that I had to find a way to save all my hard work. I ended up staying up all night trying to get this stuff backed up so I could reload it when my computer came back up. I do not handle stress well but this was something I HAD to do.
Now, I had been having trouble with this 3 year old computer for some months now. My hard drive was full and the system was slowing to a crawl. I had deleted numerous unneeded and unused programs and files. I did all the usual de-fragmenting and anything else I could think of. I had already considered wiping the system so when this came up I knew I had to do it.
I did the work, got it backed up, re-installed the OS and prayed it wouldn't be too hard to get things back to where I was 3 years ago. It's all good, the system came back without a hitch, except... no internet connection. I pushed all the buttons that I know and nothing works. It's saying I'm on but I'm not...
So I'm there, shaking from lack of sleep and too much caffeine when I finally realize, I need help! So against my self help self, I dial 1-800 Century Link.
The guy is good, but as a tech I still have to go through everything I've already done. Drives me freaking bat shit crazy. The end result? I have no fucking idea. He put me in safe mode and the internet was there. I went back to normal windows and still no internet. WELL, that's all the fellar could do considering I was "on". His advice was to call my computer manufacturer or my modem manufacturer, or I still had a virus..... and so on....
I hung up pissed!
I rebooted the computer, the modem, I wiggled this, I wiggled that and guess what? The internet came up, out of nowhere, just fine.
Now I'm happy and I got busy restoring all my files and setting things back up. And, while this tech was on the phone with me he noticed that my internet connection was really slow for what I have been paying for for the last year or so. I am paying for 4 mbps and I was only getting about 2.5 mbps. He said even with high traffic I should have at least 3.5 mbps. So he dispatched a tech to check it out.
Long story short (I should have thought about that before) the tech shows up the next day. He rewires the house connection so that it is direct to only the one plug-in. (It's DSL - the longer the line, the slower the connection.) AND when he goes to the main box and re-routes me out of the "loop" BINGO, I'm rocking a full 4 mbps!! I'm ecstatic!
That lasts maybe a full day. Suddenly my connection drops to nothing, I'm talking 0.50 mbps. That's like, well, dial up! I'm pissed again but I'm soooo not calling again. My self help self refuses to. I finally take matters into my own hands.
There's actually a second telephone box at our house. When we built the CBS house they just connected the phone lines from the box that served the old mobile home and extended it from there. Now here I was looking at this ancient box with loose wires flying everywhere and things are looking rather worn and thread bear.
I wiggle the HELL out that box.
Guess what? It brings me right back up to 2.5 mbps! I had Mike re-wire the whole thing today. And here I am rocking a full 4 mbps again!
So, it was a long story but a good moral ending. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Now, I'm not religious at all but I do believe that things happen for a reason and it's up to you to figure what that is. I went from having a slow computer that I could barely use, I had a stupid virus that got me hacked, (maybe, maybe not, no way to tell for sure) and an internet connection that was not what I was paying for to......
I now have a clean functioning system, a new credit card, and a ROCKING internet connection!
It's all good.
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