Boulder City Magazine is a monthly publication full of information about Boulder City and Southern Nevada. Boulder City Magazine features the Boulder City Home Guide, a real estate guide to Boulder City and Southern Nevada.

Tech Tip
by Brad Appleby
Appleby Arts

Gift or Curse?


“I have an old computer that I don’t use anymore. I think I will give it to someone that does not have a computer.” This sounds like a great idea, right? Is it a Gift or a Curse?

This is a story about a man named Tony, and the help he received from a man named Brad (we’ll call him Brad A). Tony had never owned or used a computer until a friend gave him one for FREE. So it began… I did say a computer, so we had to find or buy a monitor and a printer to go with the computer. Monitors are easy to find these days because everyone is upgrading to bigger screens, and printers are pretty common too. Now Tony was ready to put it all together and get the computer running. So we started the computer and got to the windows screen… a good start. Until we got to the logon screen that required a password, which we did not know. After a lengthy phone call and another 10 minutes for windows to load, the computer was finally actually running.

Now the computer lessons started. This was also when we found out another reason the computer was FREE. You can install windows XP on a slow computer but it will run slow, real slow. It took almost 5 minutes to start up one program. And since we clicked on the icon again because we thought it did not start, we had to wait even longer. So, after spending 3 hours on a project that should have taken 2 minutes on a new computer, I decided to help Tony get another computer… one that runs at a usable speed.

Tony’s neighbor happened to be upgrading his computer and decided to give his old computer to Tony. This computer was only two years old and did run at a decent speed. This “new” computer works well and Tony is learning more about the crazy world of computers, starting with the #1 used program, Solitaire.

The moral of this story is: If your computer is over 3 years old, please don’t give it to a friend. It may be more time and trouble than it’s worth, and discourage a new computer user. By the way, if you do give your computer away, please don’t forget to remove your old e-mail accounts and financial and personal files.

Visit my web site at www.applebyarts.com or for more information, contact Brad at (702) 294-1392.




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