Computer Hell

To enlarge on Cow's previous post...Cow actually DOES have her own internet, that she pays a hefty sum every month for.

BUT it's through a hard-wired router, and her laptop is wireless.

So Cow could get a wireless router to accommodate her laptop, but then her hard-wired computers won't work until she gets new cards for those.

Argh. And yes, Cow has attempted to remedy the situation by buying a hard-wired internet card for the laptop. She bought it, and it doesn't fit. Even though her laptop is a Dell and this was supposed to be a standard RJ45 dongle.

So another obvious solution is to just put away the wireless-internet laptop and use the desktops which get the wired internet at home. But those computers are dedicated machines being used for other things, and utilizing them to do internet causes them to go all screwy when those programs are running, which is most of the time.

Alas, technology. Thus the piggy-backing onto the neighbors, with just the laptop, occasionally, in a very non-invasive and minimalist way (never downloading large files, for instance). Cow DOES always respect the fact that she is just a visitor to their network.

Blessings and curses, truly.

Moo!