Things I Won’t Be Spending Money On – Originally Published August 2016

August 7, 2016 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I was watching television when an advertisement was aired for My Clean PC.  My first thought was that this might make a pretty good Whatchamacallit topic for the club newsletter.  I opened a virtual desktop and went to the My Clean PC website.  Bravely I ignored the Web Of Trust warning and enabled all scripting.  I downloaded and ran the free diagnostic tool.  Oh No!  My computer has a dangerous start up item, 110 registry irregularities and 12 repairable security vulnerabilities.  My internet settings aren’t optimized and there is 38.61 MB of internet clutter.

I restarted my computer and ran Wise Registry Cleaner and CCleaner.  Then I opened another virtual desktop and downloaded the diagnostic tool again.  This time there were only 109 registry irregularities.  I wonder if Wise isn’t as good as I thought?  It looks like CCleaner did a fine job.  My internet clutter is all gone.

The dangerous start up item was HPservice.exe.  The diagnostic tool didn’t tell me how it would improve my internet settings.  All of the security vulnerabilities were related to Internet Explorer.  Not only would I never spend money on the technology, but I’d advise you not to purchase any of these types of programs you might see advertised.

My Clean PC isn’t the only technology that I’ll probably never spend my money on.  I haven’t had a land line telephone for more than ten years.  I don’t know how much telephone service costs these days, but I’m sure I’ve saved thousands of dollars.  I know I’m missing out on enhanced 911.  E911 wasn’t mandated until 1999, so I’ve lived most of my life without it.  I know I’m missing out on crisp, clear calls that don’t get dropped, even though I seldom talk on the phone.  The only thing I really miss about a land line is the satisfaction of slamming down the phone when I’m really mad at someone.

I will probably never spend any money on a 3D printer.  I really like the technology and think it would be cool to be able to print some items.  Then I get realistic and realize that I really haven’t any practical use for it.  I seldom print anything any more.  After all these years I still haven’t any need for a laser printer.  Maybe when three dimensional print advances enough that I can print a cheeseburger, I’ll rethink the issue.

If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you already know that I won’t be spending any money on Sony technology of any kind.  I won’t bore you again with my reasons, but will just restate Sony is not very reliable in their security.

Even though qualify as a senior, I won’t spend any money on technology that is designed specifically for “seniors”.  I have found that most of this stuff is mostly overpriced and outdated.  If I find I should need a keyboard with big lighted keys, I know I’ll be able to find one on Amazon or Newegg for about a third of the price.  I still haven’t figured out why anyone would buy a computer just to keep up with what their grandchildren are doing.  The answer is that they are probably busy hacking their grandparents computer.

I doubt if any of my dollars will ever be spent on a “smart” watch.  I just can’t see the need for having technology that doesn’t really do anything.  All that a smart watch really does is interface with a computer.     It is more of a small monitor on your wrist than anything else.  How many do you actually see whenever you are in a crowded area.  I don’t even need one for telling time.  When I retired from the Navy in 1989, I took off my watch and I never put one back on again.

Now that I’ve saved all of that money my by not buying useless technology, I can finally afford to buy that new computerized toilet seat.  Do you know the one I mean?  It connects to your phone via Bluetooth and you can adjust the temperature of the seat.  There are a couple of speakers built in to the seat lid so you can listen to your favorite music while sitting in the bathroom.  I’m pretty sure that future updates will feature technology that will tell you when it is time to change the paper roll.

Thanks for reading.

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