Now that it was firmly established that there was indeed something quite functionally wrong with my newly-purchased and -installed computer, I have been busy working on its replacement, repeating the steps I had initiated a scant few weeks earlier to transform the-then-new-computer to reflect my needs after having first having undergone the process to activate all its component parts and software.

One might think it would be a breeze to make those personal decisions of what to keep what to discard, downloading one's preferred browser, making connections anew and all those minor details that make up the entire experience of usefulness for a personal computer.  It's an interesting experience, true in a sense, but also one of sheer drudgery.  And, it's surprising to encounter minute and sometimes baffling differences between one unit and another; logically one would think they're all similar since they run off the same software.

Yesterday morning I had a telephone call from the manager of the Staples store where we'd bought the original computer on August 29, and to which it was returned on September 13, one full day after the store warranty of exchange ran out.  The mysterious case of the runaway clock hadn't been solved.  This was unique to the extent that they'd never heard of such a malfunction in their previous experience, even checking back with other contacts.

As a result, he was prepared to offer me two options: 1:  was to return the computer I'd bought and set up to the manufacturer for a complete re-set, and 2:  was the choice, should I agree, to accept the same computer model taken out of its original packing for brief use in making up 'restoration' disks for other customers who had paid for the service.  In either instance, I would lose anything I had downloaded if I hadn't backed them up previous to bringing the computer in to the store.

As I'd had the computer such a short time I would lose a number of photographs, nothing else of any value to me; they were of a nature that they could be readily replaced.  I preferred the second option and that morning my husband picked up the new computer for me along with rescue disks, new keyboard and mouse and I began the dreary setting-up process once again.

Complaints there are none; I was unlucky in getting a mouth-puckering-disappointment of a computer, and the Staples manager did the best he could, under the circumstances.  For which I am grateful to him.