Grumpy Technology

This is mainly a set of instructions for my tired & addled brain the next time this deed has to be done.

Older readers may be forgiven for completely side-stepping this post as it's a bit techno-bobby. Younger readers can ignore it as you already know what you're doing. Sensitive readers had better close their eyes as it's a bit 'sweary' in places.

The day had arrived - My aforementioned MWg Zinc ii was failing in a most uncharitable way, every time I sent the same text to more than one person it delighted in repeating itself so I had 5 people texting me back to say they'd had 3 copies each & one greedy little show-off that claimed to have received 4. Fortunately with o2 I get 300 free texts a month, most of which I've now used on duplicate texting.

Instead of performing the usual 'hold this button & that button whilst poking the stylus in the reset hole' I decided to be brave & update the ROM. This had to be done on an XP system, not Vista [just what century are MWg in?], so out came the trusty old laptop, which was still annoyed about it's recent update to 'service pack 3' the last time we were home. So much so that when we were away again, Windows Live Messenger refused to acknowledge that it was even there, I've updated that now while I remembered.

Bugger me, I've forgot what I was writing about, oh yes, my little [little!!] black sleek pocket job. My zinc ii runs magnificantly for a month or so at a time then starts doing stupid things, so I have to return it to it's 'new, out of the box, factory settings'. A ritual that takes the best part of a day. Not necessarily because it's a big job, it's more to do with remembering how I like things & adjustments I have to make, even to the exact shade of green I like [UI Tweaker].

Right the deed is done, I've updated the ROM, it's done several reboots & it's back to it's factory settings - again.

Follow the cross around the screen & poke it - set region, ok done that. Right it's now preparing itself & installing stuff ... dum de dum, dee di dee ...

Click, BLING! Oh bugger, I've got to get rid of the clicks & turn down the volume - Ah done that, peace.

Right, paid for programs - SPB Wireless Monitor & SPB Mobile Shell, a word of advice, if you're going to buy more than 1 item of software from SPB then get the cheapest first as you get a discount on any subsequent purchases.

Oh, here we go, I've got redo the o2 settings, MWg auto setup always assumes I've got 'loadsa dosh' & does the settings for contract & I, being a peasant am on pay & go, fortunately I know the settings off by heart seeing as I've had to do this several times, I also have to change the settings when I use my Asda sim as MWg thinks that it's vodafone.

Testing ... bugger, wrong settings, ah yes, I forgot to change the choice of network, wireless - data settings - advanced - select network - o2 t'interweb. that should do it. Yes! I've beat it into submission.

Oh yuck, bloody bing, must change my home page to google search, damn the light has gone out, must change that, dum di dum, start - settings - system - backlight - 2 mins, it was 30 seconds, I don't know what they think I can achieve in 30 seconds, it takes that long to think about it.

Right, plumb it back into the laptop aka Phoenix [it too has had many incarnations], Oh hang on I've forgot to rename the phone, too late, Phoenix has decided that it's got a new best friend so I'll have to manually restore things. Ok, pictures, ringtones, sounds - put that sound in the windows folder or it won't find it [muttley laughing - new text message]

Back to the SPB stuff to register them - find emails, I should be able to find copies somewhere, after losing some other registration details [super granny games] & having to metaphorically go cap in hand to request a copy of the original email from Sandlot - they're always very obliging there though, I just feel such a numty losing them. Anyway NO MORE! I forward all my important stuff to my online email accounts. Um now, is it that one? nope well that one? bugger I thought I'd sent them to more than one. Ah, there they are.

Next RESTORE, this may prove to be a disaster as it contains my text messages as well as everything else - but I cunningly remembered to save a back-up from before things went peculiar so I'll use that one ... Start - file explorer - storage card - Bits & Bobs - CAB files - PPCPim Backup - expand - open - WARNING! windows has detected that you are an idiot & running this software may harm your device, are you sure you want to do it? [or something similar] I am so daring - restore - browse - hmm, it's stuck - soft reset. Oh, no need, I'm just too impatient.

Eventually it worked beautifully. I've lost some recent texts, I did try a more recent back-up but it didn't do the texts properly, Windows mobile 6.1 threads text messages like in a messenger conversation with each individual contact, I like that, it saves me moving them into files.

The rest of my day was spent re-installing programs like google maps & opera-mini [way superior & far less greedy than ie mobile], prettying SPB Mobile Shell up & of course widgeting ...