This and That: Two Problems Solved
       By Elizabeth B. Wright  April 2006

Fran Crane helped me with the antivirus and firewall problem. For now I have switched to AVG for antivirus, and have purchased Kerio firewall from Sunbelt Systems. Although it hasn’t yet been installed, it will be in the near future.

And as for the conflict between the external WD hard drive and my HP DVD burner, well it’s funny what a little memory jogging can do. It finally dawned on me to look at the back of the DVD device because something was reminding me that it is both Firewire and USB cable ready. Yes, it is, yes I removed the USB connection and replaced it with the Firewire, and yes, now both of my devices are up and running at the same time. I now can transfer files from the WD to my DVD burner. Obviously I still don’t know what was causing the USB conflict, but who cares? If I need to know that in the future, I will pursue it at that time.

The computer, like the wheel, has changed our lives beyond our wildest dreams. Many of us have no experience in accounting, not much in writing and virtually none in the arts. I’m not talking about all you superpeople out there. Just those of us who can’t balance a checkbook, can just write a decent letter, can manage a simple arts and crafts project and can barely manage a point and shoot camera. But read on.

Most of us aren’t any smarter about our money because we can use computer programs to help us prepare tax returns, but I venture to say perhaps we do understand the worksheets and forms a little better if we input all the information ourselves into tax software. It is certainly true in my case. In the past, my husband did all of our tax preparation the old fashioned way, filling out the forms by hand and doing the math.  I hid my head in the sand during this process. With the advent of tax preparation programs such as TurboTax and TaxCut, some of us are getting more familiar with the process of filing our returns. In our case, my husband collects all of our pertinent material, then I operate the computer as he reads the information to me. What this has done is teach me what documents need to be in our possession in order to accurately file our tax return. Until we started doing it this way, I didn’t know a 1099 from a W-2. Also, I am what you might call, mathematically challenged and just the papers alone with numbers on them have always frightened me. But I no longer have that fear. Even if I don’t know much about math, at least I know the significance of the papers we receive from various sources and what the numbers on them relate to, income tax wise. Although I don’t particularly enjoy the process, at least this time of the year doesn’t cause as much stress as in the past.

As for writing, the computer has made it so much easier to develop and organize our thoughts. Making changes is a snap and we can even make our “stuff” look good. We can keep multiple copies of our creations as well as easily print them for distribution. Some people still fail to utilize the spellcheck part of their word processors, but for the most part, it has become easier to make legible and understandable documents to share with others. Naturally our penmanship has suffered, but mine was never very good anyway.

Advancing our skills in the arts is a bit trickier. We can learn more about many forms of art by accessing the internet. We can find information about increasing our abilities in any art form if that is our aim. We most certainly can find all kinds of help with art appreciation, as well as learning more about the world at large. And if we aren’t learning more about the science of photography since the introduction of digital cameras, then we just aren’t trying. Ansel Adams and others made photography into art, so the two areas seem to overlap now. With so many wonderful digital imaging programs available, it is a shame if anyone fails to take advantage of what they have to offer. Merely making so-so photos look better is an achievement, but turning a picture into a personal masterpiece is a real thrill. And most anyone can do it.

Elizabeth Wright is a member of the CCOKC and a regular writer for the eMonitor