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07/21/2003 Archived Entry: "I HAVE A NEW SITE METERS"

I HAVE NEW SITE METERS ON MY WEBSITE

My nice webmaster installed two new site meters for me, one on my website and the other on my blog. She found several good alternatives to Bravenet and installed the one she liked best on my site so I can keep track of the traffic flow.

I had been using Bravenet for about a year until things crashed not long ago. Now I think I know where some of the blame can rest for that mess as they completely changed their program and didn't notify customers along the way. The rest of the problem probably can be attributed to space limitations on my server that I encountered.

I enlisted my patient grandson, Tyler, to contact Dell about the same old problem relating to my music problem. It is so exasperating to get Dell tech support these days as they have taken it all off shore. I'm getting so I talk with more people in India and the Philippines than I do in Ellsworth as that is where all their support seems to be located.

Today it was "Raine" in the Philippines, but I neglected to inquire as to the spelling. It was a guy for a change. It took Tyler exactly one hour to finally get to him. Techs along the way suggested to Tyler that he call the tech support they have where you have to pay. Wisely, he said, "NO. My grandmother has already paid for 3 years of tech support." Second, they suggested that he clean off my hard drive and reinstall my entire operating system. "Never", he said. He's a wise kid. I had forewarned him not to let them tell him to enter my Registry. They further advised I start backing up everything on my hard drive. Done did all that! I think they love to recommend reinstalling the operating system as they know it instills fear that knows no bounds in people like me. I bet they have groups of techies that gather around the phone when they decide to mention the OS plan just to hear people like me scream or faint at the other end of the line.

Before when I called on three previous occasions about this same problem, I was inclined to think part of my problem was my E Drive but they steadfastly maintained it was a software problem. They didn't get the software problem fixed after 3 calls lasting about 6 hours. Finally, I raised my voice slightly and they said they'd get a techie out right away to replace the E drive. I’ve been told you have to get a little hostile with them to get results (someone who once worked for Dell told me that). That just isn’t my nature.

Today, I had no reason to believe it was my CD Burner/drive F that was the problem, but after an hour of fiddling with things, Raine said he was going to order the F drive be replaced. They've replaced A and E drives, now to get a new F drive. They are expensive. I won't object. Maybe next time they'll just bring a new machine. Despite this, I love my Dell. I love Classic Cable. I'm a happy person unless there are big problems, and these are relatively small. I really think it is a glitch.