Computer help?

it's a rectangle -- about half inch by 1/4 inch.Your control panel/system/hardware tab/ device manager/ System
should show Universal serial bus controlers.You should have one or two on the back of the PC.You mouse may plug into one if it has a rectangular end rather than round.

OK, I guess it's that dark rectangular space right next to the mouse plug in, about those dimensions. Thanks.

a picture's worth a thousand, they say:USB port

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Sorry to harp on my pet solution, but if you are planning to back up many gigabytes of data you will need a fairly high capacity thumb-drive and that can get expensive ($80 for a 4 gigabyte). I've seen EXTERNAL CD read/write drives for about $20 and I buy CD writable blanks for 10 cents (These store about 650 Megabytes). These hook up to your computer in exactly the same way as the thunb drives, so no additional complexity is involvedA few years ago I bought a PC for my daughter and her family. I bought it from Dell because I could select to have their service rep in her area come out and assemble/install the unit with all the attachments and software. He also spent about two hours training them how to use it and answering all their questions. Dell of course charges extra for this service, but given you queasiness over starting with a new computer, the peace of mind may well be worth it. On of the greatest values of this service is that my daughter now new a real person to call and ask for advice, assistance, or service. I'm no great fan of Dell's, but this might be worth considering.Edited by AnswersInGenitals, : No reason given.

Can you post her a picture of the USB symbol? I'm too lazy right now to try to do thatr.

Look for 2 USB ports side by side underneath where your keyboard plugs in. I would be extremely surprised if your system did not have them. Edited by DrJones*, : edited out the second picture cause kuresu had it already

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Just a monkey in a long line of kings.
If "elitist" just means "not the dumbest motherfucker in the room", I'll be an elitist!
*not an actual doctor

Dumb question:Remind me what you use the ZIP disks for? Basic backup? Or you need to copy files between two computers? I think people are suggesting things without being totally clear on what your requirements are in the first place.

No, I don't need much space at all on the thumb. I've only saved 300MB of the stuff I really need. I don't care if I lose the rest.I'm not worried about a new system, just the possibility of having to install stuff in the CPU or otherwise figure out how to get this old computer working. A new system should be a piece o cake by comparison.If I can just plug in this thumb drive and have it show up in my list of places to send files to, I can do that sort of thing fine. I've played with a lot of computers over the years, I even used to fiddle with DOS commands. I can hardly believe it, don't remember a thing about it any more. Now I just don't have the patience to learn the multiple menus and functions. Never learned much about how the parts work and got more and more wearied by all the new features that are so interesting to others, just too much information, too many menus, too much to have to think about for me. I learn a new feature about once a year or so.

All I have for backup in case this system crashes, which seems imminent, is Zip disks, and I've been backing up to them for a week or so now, but just the most important stuff because I only have three 100MB disks. No problem, I can lose the rest, though if I don't have to I won't.But I only have the Zip disks; I don't have a CD burner or anything else. Computers that friends have don't have Zip drives. New computers don't have Zip drives.I need something to get the files from this old computer into a new computer, which I can't get yet, but may in the nearish future. The easiest way to do it seems to be to get a thumb drive NOW before this system crashes and save things to it instead of to the Zip disks, so when I get the new system I'll have it in the right form to plug into it. Even if I have to borrow a computer it will be necessary, to get my files into it.Maybe a cheap CD drive would do as well.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Ooo, great picture, THAT takes care of my doubts about what it is. Yes I have that, one side-by-side set. Thank you very much. And Dr. Jones too.I LOVE this thread.Such a relief from beating each other up about evolution.Not that it will last long.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I think the thumb drive is going to be your best bet if we're only talking about 300mb of crucial stuff. A 1-gigabyte (1024 mb) thumb drive should be fairly affordable, and I'm sure you'll find uses for them besides file transfer. For instance, my mother-in-law has broadband (internet access that is fast and always on), so as a security measure she keeps her tax information only on a thumb drive and unplugs it when she doesn't need to use it. You can't remotely hack into a drive that isn't plugged in, so her financial information is safe from hackers.You know the situation you're in is fairly common - people who need old files to be on their new computer. Any kind of computer repair or service shop, or basically any computer retailer, will be able to transfer your files for some charge. You might want to simply investigate that possibility. They'll probably charge you $40-60 for doing that, I would think.

I think talking about things like this gives everybody a chance to see that it's possible to debate what we do, and have the disagreements that we do, without people having to take it personally.

I just talked to someone this morning who has a collection of thumb drives as a library for genealogical research. Sounds like a useful little item. I don't want to spend that much. Hoping to get a thumb drive or something else VERY cheap at this point. This month I'm very much on the edge. I'm going to be getting help with a new computer otherwise I couldn't do it at all. But I have a new option. Got asked to babysit for a few days for my niece with the geek husband, who said to bring along the computer and he'll clean it up for me. But this won't be until next week. He has all the paraphernalia. Even if the thing crashes he will probably be able to resurrect it.

Definitely go with the thumb drive (also called flash drive). I currently use a Corsair FlashVoyager for just about everything from file back-up to presentations. It's about half the size of a standard cigarette lighter and holds 512mb of data, photos, etc. I gave up on CD's after I lost a chunk of a nice presentation when the disk developed a scratch. They are incredibly easy to use - most of them come with their own installation software which boots up when you stick it in the USB port. Just got to be careful how you remove them.

Sounds like a must-have. What's the problem with removing them?Also, everything that you store data on eventually corrupts one way or another. CD's get scratches, disks just get bad over time, and so on. What's the wear factor on the thumb drive?