Do you still think I'm pretty?

To borrow a line from a recent Windows ad attacking the iPad, I would have to say “yes”. The iPad and other Apple products continue to have the edge. Mostly, the reason I’m saying this is that I’ve just spent three weeks in “Computer Hell” because the new Microsoft Office 365 completely crashed my machine.

Most of us are fond of saying that our smartphones are our lives. Well, I can tell you that without my iPhone, I would literally have been unable to do business on daily basis (meetings excepted).  I opened up my computer one morning and got a window that said “Outlook cannot open.” That led me to a series of windows ending with “You have a corrupt file. Click here to try to repair the file.” Some three hours later, the message was “The broken file could not be found.” And I had to start the process all over again.

Finally, I called Microsoft.  Ruchir was a nice guy and even lived in Redmond. He

took over my computer remotely and gave me a bunch of instructions, which I did. Of course, I had the back-ups...two external hard drives for my music and photos, as well the prescribed system called Genie Timeline which just happened to be set up incorrectly and did me virtually no good. Every time I had to do a check, it took hours and since I had places to go and people to see, when I returned, Ruchir was gone for the day. He’d left me a message that he would return the next day in the afternoon.

After four days of this, we were no farther along. He had loaded a new version of Office 365 which by then was working but it had none of my basic information.  No emails. All my contacts were gone…over 2000 of them. My calendar was blank going forward and back. The “Drafts” folder was empty where I keep all the writing I do for my clients until I make a final edit.  There were 97 drafts before the crash and then none.

Believe me when I say that my iPhone has never been so tenderly cared for.  It was receiving emails and had my calendar and contacts. It was my lifeline and, boy, were my thumbs tired.

Then Ruchir decided that the problem might be Windows and so he suggested that I load a new version of Windows onto my computer.  Fine, I said, whatever it takes.  Well, it took 5 days, including the weekend, for me to receive new discs in the mail and then I had to get back on his schedule to load it and test it on my machine.

When that was done, I crossed my fingers and held my breath. He set all the right codes and prompts and pressed enter.  Nothing happened. He was afraid to try to open the folder containing all my information with the corrupted files.  So, he said that I had a version of Outlook that was working and I would just have to start over and rebuild everything I’d lost.

I felt like Dr. Frankenstein having to build a body out of used parts.  Where would I ever  find all that information? I started to fill in the blanks on the calendar and to pull the necessary names and addresses off my phone…but 2000-plus, give me a break.

This was my problem and I tried to solve it. I had one last chance . Since my days at DDB Worldwide, I’ve been a friend of our former head of IT, who now works for the University of Washington.  I decided to tell him my sad tale, for sympathy, if nothing else.

All I can say is that this guy is a Geek God. First of all, he found a program that would transfer my contacts and calendar from my iPhone to my computer. It cost $50 bucks but the deed was done in 15 minutes. After a couple of very short sessions, he said he had another program that might be the answer to the problem.  He took the folder with all my info and the corrupt files, cleaned it up and handed it right back to me. In a matter of hours, he cleared up all the difficulties that I spent weeks on, even with all that Microsoft advice and those programs. Big thanks, Mark.

There was one thing missing that, even with the fixes, I seem to have lost forever.  You can make groups out of your contacts in Outlook and one of those groups has your name in it.  It’s the group that I send this blog directly to because the members have indicated some interest in what I have to say in these missives.  My groups are gone.  They don’t transfer to the iPhone. So I have rebuilt this important one from scratch. There’s a chance I may hear from some folks that I’ve inadvertently left off but, for sure, if you were not on the list before and are surprised that you’re on there now, the “delete” key can fix that problem in an instant.

Apple’s hard goods are still pretty to me.  I hope you never have to go through what I just did with Windows.  The only other time I’ve experienced a letdown like this was when I walked in one day to see the deadly “Blue Screen” that comes after your hard drive has crashed. But, in case you do face this difficulty, take my advice and go to your Geek God first. We have certainly become dependent on this means of communication and I’m very happy to be back in business.  I’ll talk to you again soon.