The computer place I took my laptop to also sells refurbished computers.
The verdict was...It is a laptop that was manufactured in 2011. I had purchased the laptop from the same place, which I thought I had the laptop for 7 years. Their records show I purchased it from them 8 years ago. From the symptoms I told them, they said it is most likely the screen gone bad. They also mentioned the service charge to diagnose the problem is $45, then the minimum to repair the laptop is $100, which could be higher. The tech said if it was a fairly new computer, it would be worth repairing, but putting that much money into a laptop that old would be like whipping a dying horse. He said depending on what all is wrong with it, a repair bill could rival the price of replacing it. What I opted to do was purchase another laptop for $385. It's a refurbished laptop with a 90 day warranty. It has Windows 11, and 4 times the ram my old one had. They download Paint.net, Gimp and the program for my drawing tablet for no extra cost. I had brought the drawing tablet with me. They decided against cloning it from the hard drive of the old laptop because of other symptoms I told them about.
It took me a while to start getting use to Windows 11, but so far it's working out okay.
Here is some very important information I learned today: There is something the tech told me about what could happen to flashdrives, disks and SD cards. He said although it is rare, a storage media device can get infected by malware. After that happens, that infected media device will infect every computer it gets plugged into. Then there's the possibility of other media devices getting infected by being plugged into the infected computer. Not being aware of that situation going on could systematically destroy all other media devices that years of artwork files are stored on. Did you all know of that?...I sure didn't until today...Sounds nasty doesn't it?
Fortunately, there is a solution a couple of the techs told me about, thus there is no call to have an anxiety attack learning about this. One of the techs showed me how to format a storage media device. It is the same thing to a media device as wiping all data would be to an infected computer prior to reprogramming. Formatting a media device wipes everything clean including all malware. Of course, nobody in their right mind would want to format their media devices that years of artwork files are stored on.
Here is what the techs advised me to do: They already knew I have a laptop devoted only for creating artwork that never goes on the internet. And they know I have a 2nd smaller cheaper laptop that is used to go on line. This idea would work only if you have two computers as I have. They told me don't use the media devices I have years of artwork on to directly upload submissions onto art sites. Instead, have an empty media device that is designated only as an intermediate. The day you decided you want to upload some artwork, copy the files you want to upload that day to the intermediate media device. Then use the intermediate media device to upload from to the on line art site. After you've uploaded what you want to submit that day, format the intermediate media device, wiping it all clean, using the laptop designated for on line use. That makes it safe again to use with the devoted artwork laptop and stored files. Always format the intermediate media device every time after it is used for uploading purposes.
A computer can be wiped and reprogrammed. A media device can be formated or replaced. However, years of artwork and stories can not be replaced. Once a media device containing years of files gets corrupted with malware, it's "bye bye artwork"..."bye bye stories"...That is unless you have other media devices with copies of the same files as back ups (and that the back ups don't also get corrupted before you realize what's going on).
After learning what I had been told today, my media devices with years of my artwork on them will never again see being on line...That's what my intermediate media device is for...to be used to carry copies of my files to the "dangerous" internet. I've got files of photos taken of my artwork going back to the 1970s. The original hard copies from the earlier years no longer exist. That's just too much to be taking even a small risk with it. My main concern is not a laptop and the flashdrives themselves. My main concern is protecting 52 years of artwork that could never be replaced if something happened to it all.
Having that 2nd laptop over the past several years was certainly a good investment for me. And I'm glad I found out what I learned today.
Sometimes when I view artwork, write long journals, and write stories, I will play music for motivation. One of the songs I looped the most while writing this journal is Chains of Love, by Erasue. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MeWt0ZwYp3A&pp=ygUWZX...
