keep calm and add some RAM - the joys of computer upgrades

Shard © Caroline Fraser

I almost gave up the will to live this week.

Technology was getting the better of me.


The not very good...........

• I tried to print some photos for an exhibition selection process, but the ink cartridge didn't recognise the printer, so the printer refused to play ball. 
• I installed Photoshop CC in order to be able to use a new programme for working on my images for The Arcanum
• my Mac was going so slowly as a result of this installation ( half an hour to process each photo) that I uninstalled Photoshop CS5 to try and free up some memory and left Photoshop Creative Cloud running.
• I then bought some new ink, which my printer deigned to work with, but found that photoshop CC doesn't work with my printer, and all the images came out the wrong colour and size.
• Needless to say I couldn't find the old version of Photoshop to reinstall it. Nor can I find my library card, Tesco card, and all the other cards that I filed safely somewhere before I left for New Zealand
• I discovered Adobe Colour Utility which half solved the problem
• and in a moment of foolishness that has taught me a serious lesson I decided to install the upgrade for Bridge CC, at which point I lost Bridge altogether because the new version apparently says that my 4 year old computer is "too old", and I found that many other poor souls out there had found themselves in the same predicament.

the amazingly good........

• I copied the old BridgeCC file off my laptop ( thank you youngest child, I am indebted to you forever) and reinstalled it onto my Mac. Hey presto; we have Bridge again.
• I used Time Machine to find Photoshop CS5 and reinstall it  (thank you youngest child, I am indebted to you forever and a day)
• I installed 8GB of new RAM into my MAC ( thank you man in the Apple store who advised me to use Crucial Memory and also to use an antistatic wrist band so that I didn't destroy the machine forever)

So today, I have been pretending to cook dinner for 8 people, but each time OH ( other half) popped out to buy more missing ingredients I became techo-geek extraordinaire, unscrewing my computer, holding my breath, saying a small prayer, and finally whooping with delight when I solved all of the above problems.

AND NOW............ I can process an image in a matter of moments, and am a very happy bunny.

So here is a newly processed image, just to prove my point.

Lighthouse, Dungeness © Caroline Fraser