It doesn’t matter what computer you write on as long as you write, but my Acer tower computer and I have been thorough a lot. It has i3 core cpu and was running windows 7 when I got it. I manage to get it upgraded to Windows 8, then Windows 10. The latest major Windows 10 update did it in. The major Windows 10 update would not load. Ended up downloading a Windows program that forced the update onto the computer. There was no working on the computer while as the update loaded, but it loaded.

For a month the major update had been trying to load, but never would fully load. Sometimes It would get to 98% installed then hang, forever. I left it on overnight but it never got pass the 98% mark. Other times it would act like it installed, then within hours it would start the update over again. During all these previous updates I got no error messages, no indication that the update loaded or not.

Once the major update was loaded the machine worked for a full day without Windows updater trying to force the major Windows 10 update on my machine.

Then I got an update alert. A security update was going to be loaded on the machine. I had no options to delay the update or to do as Windows advises to make a back up of the latest install.

The update demanded a reset. The computer screen went black, the machine beeped. The hard drive is doing something, but the screen remains black. For hours it remains black.  I turned the machine off then back on. Just a black screen. Not the blue screen of death, it’s black. Day after day I would turn the machine on, but no change.

My computer savvy friends say; install Linux.

I have a backup computer. It’s a laptop and newer than the Acer. I haven’t been in a Starbucks in months. I eat out once a week with friends for $10.00 dollars or less. I get one glass of ice tea at the writers weekly  meeting and bring a doughnut if I haven’t had lunch since the coffee shop is too expensive for their treats.

By cutting back I was able to buy a low end i5 laptop with a previous generation cpu. That’s what I’m writing this on. Windows has not stopped me from writing.

When I get the time I will load Linux on the old machine, but it won’t be the same. You can write and do a lot of things with the Linux operating system.

Still I miss the old machine. It was big, slow, but it came through and a wrote a lot of words on that machine.

Stay strong, write on, and I miss you old friend.

Professor Hyram Voltage