So as I mentioned before, I have a new job. Best paying one I’ve had thus far, and it’s for at least a year. So I decided, since I had some cash left, to upgrade my 8 year old laptop (whose battery is non functional now) and my 5 year old tablet (so old it doesn’t even accept the latest mobile OS).
I can see now why shopping gives some people such a rush. This user experience is SOOOO good. I usually don’t spend this much at once, at least not on myself. I’m pretty tightfisted to begin with, and I guess I tend to expect the worst of the future sometimes (“Oh, I shouldn’t spend that much, what if I get in an accident or fired or something?”). So I decided to trust in my new status quo, and now my Internetting is running so smoothly and fast that it’s like a dream.
I, on the other hand, just lost my dream job. My wife and I were debating whether to get a new car or a new kitchen, then BAM…unemployed. I find myself rapidly downgrading.
I’ve got a laptop that originally ran XP and a PC that’s almost as ancient. I’m getting ready to re-retire and I know I don’t need both, but I’m still reluctant to upgrade - mostly because I HATE Windows 10. I need to do it before I retire - the illusion of real income vs pension and SS makes me believe I can afford it! Mind games, right?
But I hate shopping - especially for computers. I don’t do a lot with one, but I can’t be without one, what with online banking and bill paying, so I guess I should start thinking about shopping.
have you thought about switching to a Linux distribution? They self install now and don’t require any more knowledge than Windows 10. All the major Linux distributions will do everything you mentioned. The machine I am using to type this message came with Windows XP, I have lost track how many times I have upgraded to a newer version of Linux Mint. The most important thing to do is make sure you have good back-ups, and then check again. if you use Google as your web browser and you have a Google account you don’t need to worry bookmarks. I believe that is true of the other major web browsers as well, but have never used any thing other than Google.
Libreoffice comes with most distros and it will do most anything you can do with Windows Office, including read all your files and maybe even some really old files that Windows 10 will not read.
Sure, it will take some getting accustomed to the somewhat different conventions Linux uses.
The other issue that has me maintain a Windows 10 machine is that there are some apps that don’t want to run on Linux and that issue you should consider carefully in making a choice.
If you want to get a feel for Linux, there are many many websites. an other way to get a sense is to download a distro, copy it to a DVD. Most Distros will self load and have an evaluation mode where you can run the Distro without disturbing your Windows install.
Mind games, right?