Dear Dave, Thank you for your message! Remote tech support ?? Yes, I had A T and T do a "Tandom" connection with my computer once, and I did not like it. In fact, I wonder if that is what made my Windows System crash? But it was a month or so before the Systems crash, do you think this could have been the reason? Dave, Office 2003 is not from the 1990's! I have a Gateway on my desk right next to my Dell XP machine, well, actually under the desk, as both are full towers, and that is running Windows 98, "First Edition", I purchased it in 1998! LOL! And it works perfectly, slow, but perfectly! I have Office 2000 on it! If I could connect it to DSL and my external Terabyte Hard Drives, 2 of them, and it would support those "Thumb Drives", I would use it! LOL! Right, so then give Freedom Scientific $200 to upgrade to JAWS 12? I have been playing that game since JAWS 3.3! Enough, Okay? XP is supported till 2014, and I like it! JAWS 11 is good, and I like that also! Keeping up with JAWS, and the learning of new Microsoft Office software is not a hobby for me, I have a lot of hobbies, so I want to spend as little time with learning JAWS and new programs as I have to, not to say those who like learning new versions of JAWS and other programs are wrong, just not for me! I say, if it ain't broke, , don't fix it! Perhaps I will have to purchase Office 2007, but if so, it shall be my very last resort! And as for JAWS 12, well, my JAWS 5.X in my Windows 98 machine works just fine thank you! Hey, remember JAWS 4.0? And how about JAWS 10? LOL! With Best Regards, Alan Miami, Florida Alan Dicey, President United States Braille Chess Association - USBCA "Yes, Blind and Visually Impaired People, Can, and Do, Play Chess!" United States Braille Chess Association Home Page: http://AmericanBlindChess.org ----- Original Message ----- From: Farfar Carlson To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 2:57 PM Subject: Re: Dell Agony Alan, As much as you dislike the ribbons, they are not only here to stay in the Office suite, they are also prevalent in the Windows 7 environment and the more mundane applications that come with it. Like it or not, you'll be better off getting Office 2007, learning the ribbons, and if you migrate to JAWS 12 be able to take advantage of the virtual ribbon feature. Time to come out of the 90s and into the new millennium. And as for your experience with AT&T, it's also dangerous to have their remote tech support grab your computer to do the fixing for you. Yes, they did fix my DSL modem setup problems but they left behind their mirror display driver, which subsequently messed up how JAWS was working. I had to remove the Dameware Mirror Driver before thing got right again. But at least it was free. Now don't ask me about my wife's Sony VAIO and getting a crashed hard disk replaced. She's been complaining ever since that it no longer works as well as originally. We're looking at buying a new laptop soon. Dave Created in the Audio Recording and Mixing Studios, San Jose, California ----- Original Message ----- From: Alan Dicey To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 11:50 Subject: Dell Agony Dear Dorothy, Your experience sounds just like the one I had with A T and T's "In-Home" Technical Support! The guy that came over acted like this Blind person was a devil or something, he just reinstalled my Dell Computer Systems Disk and wanted to run away as fast as his legs could carry him, and at a charge of $179 to my credit card! Folks, I cannot tell you how kind the A T and T Customer Service Technical Support people were, when they said the tech would do this, and do that, and do this and do whatever was needed for me to have him do, and he did absolutely nothing except reinstall my Windows XP! On the other hand, I had to order my Dell Computer Systems disk, and those Dell Customer Service People were the greatest, I cannot say enough about them. They even sent my Systems disk out the same day I called, FedEx! No Charge whatsoever! Incredible! I am still stunned at how professional and courteous, yet personal and kind they were! I do not have the issue you had with JAWS, as I simply called Freedom Scientific and explained the situation, got lucky and had one of the old-timers in Technical Support on the telephone, a gentleman I knew for about 10 years, and he gave me my 20 digit authorization number and sent me out another JAWS Disk, then walked me through the process of updating JAWS 11 when I received my Disk from them. But Friends, I am despartely trying to fine Microsoft's Office 2003, as that which was on my Dell Computer was just a "Courtesy" version, and Dell could not help me there. Anyone have any ideas? I refuse to use Office 2007! Ribbons? Ribbons? We don't need no Ribbons! We don't gots to use no stinking Ribbons! LOL! Sorry you had problems with your In-Home Technician, perhaps that is the nature of those In-Home Technical support guys, but I must tell you Dell was so fantastic, even wonderful with me! But look out for A T and T! With Best Regards, Alan Miami, Florida Alan Dicey, President United States Braille Chess Association - USBCA "Yes, Blind and Visually Impaired People, Can, and Do, Play Chess!" United States Braille Chess Association Home Page: http://AmericanBlindChess.org ----- Original Message ----- From: Dorothy Ingram-Gorban To: org, jfw@freelists. Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 2:17 PM Subject: dell agony I had a visit from dell engineer today he was very unpleasant indeed, wouldn't listen said he had only come to replace a CD draw, he pulled out my 2 external drives and I had to get a stranger in from street to find them, jaws says it is only working in demo mode, it was my last update to jaws 12 I do have the 20 digits on a tape somewhere if I can find it the dell man only wanted a signature and to tear off I have sent a sharp email to dell support, meanwhile I understand from fellow jaws users that any change of hardware makes jaws think I have a new machine and thus it works in demo mode. I am typing this from my old XP laptop mercifully still running,but the local engineer phoned and he was baffled but will come on Thursday evening I am wondering if I will have problems getting another reset if that is what I need, my friend in UK says he had good service from dell,but the man only wanted a signature on paper,he had to put my hand where to sign I asked him to"read to me what you have yelled at me to sign he shot off and slammed door, then I couldn't find the router or 2 external drives and a stranger helped me well that is often the case I hope the email I have sent back to dell support will get a reply Dorothy