A New Laptop . . . Again

Last week I thought my IT department was to blame for the poor performance of my laptop. It turns out that my laptop really did break. There is an internal ribbon cable for my keyboard and mouse that needed replacing. I could have fixed it with an $8 part but my IT department just gave me a new laptop instead. The bad ribbon cable is a common problem with that era of MacBook Pro.

One of the reasons I keep adding to this blog is that it serves as a technical notebook. When it came time to copy all of the stuff off my old computer, I just looked up what I did the last time and that allowed me to get my new machine set up quickly. I picked up the new computer on Monday and returned my old one this morning. The only thing I had forgotten to include in my last instructions is to copy over the VPN settings. While my IT department set up the primary server settings, there is an older secondary one that will often work when the other doesn't. For those keeping track, I made sure to:

1. Copy all of the files from my backup
2. Copy bookmarks from my browser
3. Set up printers
4. New: copy VPN settings

I'm not sure I like the new computer though. While my old computer had an intermittent keyboard and trackpad failure, my new computer likes to crash and reboot itself every 10 minutes. I have tried a number of troubleshooting techniques to figure out what could be causing the problem. So far, I haven't figured it out. Monday I had a number of problems with the laptop and then it ran flawlessly on Tuesday. Yesterday the crashing returned. Today it has run without incident all day. My hope is that the crashing is related to copying all of the old files onto the computer and then having to encrypt the files. Time will tell.

My Blog and an Important Date

Recently I updated my work laptop's operating system to High Sierra. Naturally this broke a number of applications until I could update them as well. I updated everything except for iMovie and Garage Band as I kept getting a message about how my Apple ID did not have permissions to update those applications. I didn't worry about as I don't really use those apps on my work computer. However it is starting to get annoying that my computer tries to upgrade them each week but can't because of the Apple ID. Today I had a few minutes of time and so I went to the company help desk to see if they could help me.

Ultimately we came up with a workaround that involved creating a new user on my laptop and having the new user update those two programs. Once that worked, the help desk employee suggested that my laptop is getting old and is eligible to be replaced soon. On the way back to my desk I wondered how long I have had this computer. Then I realized I wrote about it in this blog. A quick search showed that I got it around February 4, 2016. We have a policy that allows me to replace the computers every 2 to 3 years. I will probably wait a bit but it is nice to have a written record of when I got it.

A New Work Laptop

After almost 5 years with the same work laptop I broke down and ordered a new one. I really liked my old 15-inch MacBook Pro and didn't want to take the time to get a new machine configured. The thing that caused me to finally break down and get one is that my old laptop needed a newer version of the operating system. The brain trust in our IT department recommended against an upgrade and so I took this chance to fix a few things that I didn't like about the old one.

This time I went smaller. I opted for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Retina display. So far I have to say that I really like the smaller form factor. My computer bag is so much lighter and I appreciate that. Sure I would have gotten more horsepower out of the 15-inch, but I mostly use my laptop for e-mail and spreadsheets. If I need more computing power, I have 2 desktops for that.

This time it was fairly painless setting up my new laptop as I had a nice backup of my other computer. While the old backup took about an hour to copy to my external USB drive, it only took 7 minutes to copy to my new computer, thanks to the USB 3.0 port. I highly recommend one.

In addition to copying files and setting up e-mail, which my IT department took care of, I also had to copy all of the bookmarks out of my browser. Fortunately this was a great time to go through and clean them out. I only ended up keeping about a half-dozen of them. I also had to go through and set up printers. The process was painless but something I had to remember to do so I could print my airplane ticket for tonight's flight.

I still have my old laptop for the next couple of days. My hope is that I don't have to turn it on. Then I will feel safe giving it to our IT department. Naturally I will remove all of my files from the machine as opposed to assuming it will get done for me. Then I really hope I got everything.

Moving Files to My New Computer

So far, I have not run into any problems because I left my MacBook at home. Of course it helps that I am not working on any old projects. Last night I did some volunteer work and didn't get back home until very late. This evening I will have some spare time and it will be a better test of how well I did transferring files from the MacBook to my new laptop.

Previously I listed 7 steps that I use to transfer old files to a new laptop. Step 3 is: Move all important files to the new computer. With my MacBook, that was easy. Any time I create a new file, I make sure it ends up in the "Documents" directory. Linux, Windows, and the Mac all have a directory called "Documents" and so the advise is valid on all 3 operating systems.

When I create a new word processing document, it ends up in "Documents". When I start a new spreadsheet, it ends up in "Documents". Now it may sound like my documents directory is full of files. It isn't. One of the beauties of computer file systems is that folders can contain other folders or directories. This means that I have a number of folders in "Documents" and those folders contain other folders. When I got to step 3 of my list for transferring information, I just copied the Documents folder to my new computer and I didn't have to go searching for all my important files.

Truth be told, I have yet to complete the process of transferring all of my old files to my new computer. I started the process by copying them to a 16 GB flash drive and was amazed that it took up 3.5 GB of space. Now I just keep that flash drive with me and when I need a file from my old computer, I copy it from the flash drive to my new computer. That helps me figure out what I really need from my MacBook. After all, who wants to fill up their new computer with old stuff that never got used on the old one?

A New Laptop

Recently I received a new laptop at work. It isn't nearly as nice as my old black MacBook, but it means I have yet another computer. For a while I was leaving my work laptop in San Francisco and carrying my MacBook back and forth to Salt Lake. This week I decided to leave it at home and utilize the laptop the company gave me. So far, it has turned out to be a good decision, but the week is still young.

One nice thing about my MacBook is that it has a built-in camera to use with Skype. My new computer has the same setup. None of the computers we have at home have a camera and so it was kind of nice to talk to my son. He logged into my MacBook while I was on my new laptop and we were able to see each other as we talked. It didn't take long before everyone in the family was down in my office crowding behind the laptop screen to get a look at Dad.

Working 600 miles away from home can be a little lonely sometimes. While I spend quite a bit of time on the phone with member of my family, it will be nice to enjoy seeing them as well as talking to them.

Getting a New Computer

It is always fun to get a new computer. However it can also be a daunting task. What is the best way to move information from one to the other? How can you be sure you got all the information you are going to need? Is there an automated process that makes this easier? Why do we drive on parkways and park in driveways? OK, you can disregard that last question but let's discuss the others.

I generally get a new computer once a year. I have two computers that I use on a frequent basis: my desktop and my laptop. There are several more computers in my home office but they are generally database servers that I use for work and so let's not worry about them.

My laptop is an inexpensive MacBook and my desktop is a PC that dual boots to either Windows Vista or Linux. Last summer I got my MacBook and this summer I got my desktop. I will then hand my laptop to my son next summer as he goes off to college and get a new one. So you can see that I have to go through the computer upgrade process once a year.

When moving from one computer to another, it is important to make sure you get all the right data. It also serves as a good time to throw away all the stuff you will never use again. Perhaps you downloaded a PDF of the instruction manual for that old vacuum cleaner that you sold at the last garage sale. No need to keep that around. I use the following process when upgrading to a new computer:

1. Clean up the old computer
2. Export my e-mail and address book
3. Back up all my files
4. Move all important files to the new computer
5. Install application software like Microsoft Office
   
6. Import my e-mail and address book to the new computer
7. Keep the old computer running for a week or two

If you use a server-hosted email service such as gmail or some Outlook installations, then you can forget steps 2 and 6. I don't and so they are very important steps for me. Most e-mail programs have an export function that takes all of your e-mail folders and spits them out into a file. Then all you need to do is move that file to the new machine and import it back into your e-mail program.

Step 3 is important if you don't have the option of step 7. The previous time I updated my desktop computer was because my old computer died. I elected to get a new one instead of spending money to fix the old one. Luckily I had done a recent backup and was able to restore all my files. I backup my computer files to DVDs and keep the DVDs in a safe place. You could also use a flash drive but be sure to mark it as your backup so it doesn't get used for something else.

There is probably a software program out there that will help upgrade your computer. Especially if you are going from Windows to Windows or Mac to Mac. However I have three different computing environments and so I end up having to do my upgrades manually.

A new computer can be like having a fun new toy. The only problem is that you can plan on spending a day pulling stuff off your old one and moving it to the new one.