I bought a laptop with XP recently off of
Posted By: sn on 2009-03-25
In Reply to: Question. I have Windows XP now on my computer which is getting slow. I do not want Vista - PAMT
EBay that was a refurbished one, to be safe I also bought a 2-year warranty just to cover it. Any computer store, Staples, etc. can build you a computer with XP, or check on line with EBay, Google computers with XP, etc. They are still out there, just cannot buy them direct (or hard to find them) through Dell, Gateway, etc.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Anyone that has recently bought a computer I am about to have one made and I wonder if someone
could tell me what specifications to be sure to have especially if I decide to work part time for 2 separate companies some of which have a lot of material to load. Anything you can tell me would be nice. I guess Windows XP Prof. etc. I want to be sure I have enough room on it to do 2 separate companies.
I recently bought the Etymotic-6 earbuds also . . .
and am very pleased with them. They are not uncomfortable, but do make my ears itch a little. I bought them on ebay, much cheaper than web site.
Company I work for was recently bought
The MTs weren't notified about this. I just got my check and noticed it was from a different company, signed by a different person. I looked up the company and saw they were Indian and wasn't sure what was going on but suspected. Then today I saw the post on the company board with the link to the article about the purchase. I've been with this company quite a while, but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't just put in my notice. For one, I don't like the way this happens and nothing is communicated to us. Also, it seems to me it's just a matter of time before the US MTs are phased out and replaced by their Indian workforce. And for me, even if that doesn't happen, I don't think I want to work for an Indian company responsible for US MTs losing their jobs. This is just really upsetting.
Susan.....I recently bought a new keyboard,
one of those ones with two separate halves with tenting, supposed to be ergonmic (love it BTW)....the first, I'd say 3 days, I actually thought I'd have to send it back because of a slight difference in key location, kept hitting the wrong keys, etc. However, after that time, I got used to it and no longer was hitting wrong keys.
Also, I'm pretty sure you can get a switch that turns a USB into a round and vice versa. You could try calling a computer/electronic store or googling.
I recently bought word 2003. I don't
remember the site, but you can Google it and it will come up. I bought Microsoft Works with 2003, and I think it was only about $39. Yes, you will need earphones unless you just want to listen to the dictation through the speakers. Some tests you can use a pedal, the others if you don't have the correct pedal you just have to use the "function" keys for play, rewind, etc. You will definitely need reference books or an online reference you can use easily. They are very picky. The higher the quality of the test results you produce, the higher likelihood of being hired. If it is incorrect or sloppy, they will not even look at you for a position.
They bought Dictaphone Corp, and recently Focus. nm
x
This is what I bought for our RV & my laptop
You may have seen this advertised before on TV. I bought it from LTD Commodities but I am sure it is available many other places. It is inexpensive, quite adjustable, you can break it down,and it is very lightweight. I use it at home as a TV tray as well.
just bought used laptop HELP
ok i just bought a used laptop. when i was at the guy's house, the internet was going. now, i'm at my house and it won't connect to my wireless network. it shows it on the screen, but won't connect. it is so frustrating. is it the firewall on? is there something i need to do to get it to work? I'm going to get a sprint broadband card for it, so not like it really matters, but i just want the internal wireless to work anyways. why isn't it working?
i just bought a laptop for same reasons.
I chose a Toshiba, because of Consumer's ratings, customer reviews, and customer service i've heard about (and sale price!). I didn't realize i'd need a wireless router, but luckily it came in the bundle purchase. If you want to use external devices, check for port types. Mine has 4 USBs but no PS2 that my keyboard requires, so i've ordered an adapter. From what little i know i suggest no less than 1 GB capacity (esp with Vista), and 2 if you can afford it. Enjoy Phoenix!
I bought a new laptop at dell.com yesterday with XP
The deal they were running was that you can buy certai new computers and have them preloaded with XP. You also get the Vista CD so if you ever want to upgrade you alread have it. It cost an extra $150 but worth it to me. Also they do a free upgrade in memory to 2 GB.Check it out. I think the deal is limited time only. My is set to ship on 08/04/08. I am SOOO excited.
Getting my ducks in a row for my big job search. I just bought a Dell laptop for X-mas. SM
It was used when I bought it and I want to make sure that I have everything I need to work from home on it. The PC I'm on now will be going back to the hospital. It is a Dell Latitude. It has a Pentium IV processor, 512 mg of RAM, 40 gig hard drive, wireless internet plus ethernet card, Windows 2000. Will that laptop suffice for working from home? I assume it will, but I just want to make sure before I starting applying places.
Thanks!
I bought a desktop and laptop in December. Can I claim on taxes..
and is there a limit to how often you purchase computers for your work? A friend thought you could buy one a year and claim it. I bought the laptop and desktop in December and already hate the laptop, but I hate to purchase another one if I cannot claim it this year. Oh, also if I charged the computers on my Dell account in December but did not start making payments in January 2006 can I still claim for 2005 taxes. Thanks.
That's strange I bought the adapter but couldnt get it to work right. Maybe cuz it was a laptop..
I'll have to try it again. I just could not get it to work right. I would get sound but then it would freeze up.
Hey, out of curiosity what kind did you get. I bought a E1505 laptop on there. Great Deal
I have both a Dell Latitude Laptop and a Dell Dimension desk top PC and bought both...
off of Ebay. The laptop I paid $300 for had Windows XP and works great. It wasn't wireless, but they sent me a PCI card with it and it works fine. The desktop PC has XP on it as well and I paid $250 for it. Both have Pentium IVs. Both work great for work. I have no complaints and I feel like I got a great deal both times out on Ebay.
I don't like Dell. I bought a Dell laptop and it
was a piece of junk, so I'm not the one to ask if you should buy a Dell. I'd get at least double that processor speed. My computer is about 10 months old and I have 5 times that, which means that there is probably something faster out now, or soon will be. It is more than I need for work, but I also use computer to download music/pictures, and a bunch of other stuff. The Dell I had had 650 mHz and it was slow and that was almost 6 years ago. You may have to customize anyway to get XP unless you buy one previously owned, which you can also buy from Dell. It is always a good idea to buy bigger than you need currently just to allow for updates to any software or new software you may add. You need to also think about tech support. I know Dell has tech support in India, which can be extremely frustrating. I don't know that other computer companies don't offshore their tech support, but that would be a question I would ask and find out if there is a locally authorized dealer to handle warranty repairs or if you need to send off the computer. I would not recommend a Gateway computer and I would not recommend any computer that has a Celeron processor. They tend to be in all the lower end computers.
I bought a wedge at Michael's for about 59 cents. Bought one for my SM
Lanier station so I could see the display and one for my keyboard.
To all of you Escriptionist out there...Laptop question. Have any of you found a laptop that you can
thing. I tried one of those adapter that goes from the 9-pin to the USB but when I plugged in the USB my foot pedal did not work right. I know supposedly there is a help section on the escription website that says the adapter may work and how to make them compatible etc but it never worked for me. Has any of you find a solution or a laptop that this foot pedal with work with. I'd like to work while traveling and get a laptop but it never worked on my old one. Ideas??
NO... Just recently.....
my sister came home to a real disaster. She left for work at the beginning of a thunderstorm and came home to find everything blown out in her house and scorched burnt wallpaper in places on the walls. Apparently the lightening hit the Invisible Fence wire around the perimeter of her property, traveled into the garage where the power box for the fence was, and breached her circuit box and traveled up into the sockets in the house. She lost TVs, her computer, all sorts of items which were destroyed. I'd unplug and wait it out.
i just recently became SE
and all i can tell you is that when i talked with my accountant about what to do with the 401k that i already have, knowing my situation, she gave no indication of there being a problem maintaining this as an SE.
I recently got one because I could not
adjust to the earphones my company sent. I got mine from the Dictation Store and they were $9, but shipping is about $8. I just got standard shipping and I think it took 2 days to get it, though I'm on the same coast.
I had one of those recently.
Foot pedals wouldn't work (I tried several). Keyboard keys (F1, etc.) wouldn't work. I ended up using the mouse on media player to stop, start, and back up the dictations. Obviously it takes much longer to transcribe anything that way because it's a pain in the neck to use the mouse to operate the player, and you're much more prone to make mistakes because of the clumsiness and hassle involved.
The test I took was very easy (radiology). They graded it the same as if I had had full use of a foot pedal and no technical difficulties. There were a few simple errors that were obviously the result of not being able to quickly back up and re-listen to things. They also counted off for minor stylistic "errors" even though they did not make it known anywhere that they required the use of a specific set of style guidelines on the test (presumably the BOS). I now regret taking that test at all under those ridiculous circumstances.
In the end I concluded that they either didn't know how to administer a test or it was all designed to be an ambush to stifle the MTs they had decided they didn't like and weren't about to sign a contract with. Or both. In any case, I would never choose to work with a place that incompetent or that nasty anyway.
I have done several recently and
every single one of them required you to type it into Word 2003 and email it in so that they can read it.
Maybe you were testing with bigger companies than I was, though and they have some other way to test.
Why does it seem that VR/SR has just recently taken off
it just really seems like in the last few months everyone on here has been forced to go VR (I know not ALL of you), but the majority. My work had one account on VR last year and now ALL accounts are within the just the past months. Why all of a sudden are we getting bombarded with it. It doesn't seem to matter what company or what platform, but it is taking us by storm. I happen to like VR myself, but WOW its exploding!! Want your opinion as to why "all of a sudden"?
From what I have seen recently,
they are hiring people with little or no experience and getting rid of the ones who have tons of experience and can learn quickly and can start producing at the get go. They advertise for experienced MTs with acute care experience but they are not keeping them. They even laugh and joke about it.
I have investigated recently-
checking up the corporate ladder and with tech people, all of us in MQ get paid for spaces within a section/paragraph, naturally not the blank line between sections/paragraphs. That was one of the motives for insisting we stop double spaces after periods and colons(:). It adds up.
I've seen the same recently...
"work pools were changed recently" was what I was told and now finding myself with the accents....luckily since I work on 85% during my full time job during the day the accents on this part time account are a piece of cake. I did have a funny experience last night on my last report...
I pulled in an echo that someone apparently abandoned because they couldn't do it. It was an ESL but not a difficult ESL.....
The doctor dictated....."Normal mitral valve........NO MORE MITRAL VALVE was transcribed ....then pericardial effusion.....THE PATIENT WANTS DIVERSION was typed..... !
I was just recently hired by
Transcend and am receiving the equipment today or tomorrow, will train next week. I would not worry about the interview if I were you. She was very nice and we had a nice talk. I am leaving MQ. Welcome.
I checked it out recently (sm)
If I weren't already in my senior year of college and on a different path, I'd definitely check it out. The average income was something like 45K (salary.com).
I'd not worry about competition. MT is considered hard for newbies to break into, but we did that, didn't we? Where there's a will, there's a way.
I'd definitely consider it if I were you. Frankly, getting out of the house sounds really nice to me.
I think there was something recently posted about this
company.
I recently met someone who has a friend who took a
6-week course, is working at home with all the work she can handle. Of course I don't believe this, but this is what she said.
I found this recently (sm)
See link
Not unless something has changed recently...
I have worked at a job where I had to use both the Lanier and a Dictaphone. They are two very separate things.
anyone recently take the cmt exam?
thank you.
Oh, they did for me! I just recently plugged my
instead of my junky speakers, and what a difference!!! Can't believe I've gone this long thinking that it was DQS that was all the problem with the degradation in sound quality since going from using a C-phone.
I assume that better speakers would have to make a difference, because mine are super cheap. But for now I'm just staying with my headphones through the computer speaker plug (and with a Turtle Beach Audio Device as well now).
Someone asked this recently and several
mentioned the same reasonably priced vacuum (yes, some also loved their Dyson's, but I'm with you on the price). Sorry, I can't remember which one it was (maybe a Eureka something???), but I do remember the same one coming up three or four times in the thread. Search the archives. Good luck to you! (p.s. I'm coming back to search the archives myself when I'm ready to buy again).
this happened to me recently :)
Hold down either the Ctl key or the Alt key and then hit either your right or left arrow depending on which way you want it to move. It only happened to me once, so if that doesn't work, play around with holding Clt+Alt and possibly Shift with the arrow, but that was how I got mine back after my 3 YO granddaughter played with it.
Happy Holiday!
I recently did this and went back to being
IC status. I did not enjoy being an employee, yes the tax thing is a pain in the butt, but being an employee with this particular company was horrible!! I vote for the IC position unless you don't mind being restricted on time off, emergencies etc. Just my opinion though, good luck with your decision.
just recently transitioned myself
from decades of being an 'employee' to a SE. I just wish i would have done it many many years ago. The freedom from time clocks, schedules etc is well worth the bene's i gave up. If one puts it all together (add bene's to gross pay), i don't make as much money, but that's really my fault, because now many days i work 6 or 6-1/2 hr instead of 8. But my quality of life is so much more. You sure want to set aside money for taxes though, and i made a savings acct for just that. Hope you make the right decision for you!!
Recently started using
Meditech for a new hospital account (acute care and rad) Compared to WP and/or Word,(or even DocQscribe) it's like pushing a truck up hill with one hand. Easy to use but very cluncky and requires more Keystrokes for any function than any other platform that I've used. No doubt it (or you) gets faster with use, but I'm not impressed.
PS It has an awkward spell check - not case sensitive, does not pick up transpositions, takes 3 keystrokes to make a correction instead of 1 as in WP or Word.
At my age plus the fact recently
paid off every debt I have, could get social security - I am glad I do not have to worry about will it be this way or that- much too unnerving for a person supporting family, bills, etc. I work part by my own desires and if that is the way it goes, that is that. I hated the first time I was ever outsourced but after the 2nd time used to it. Times change.
I knew anyone could look at it but I did not know until recently (sm)
that it would come up in search engines. I accidentally found something I posted months ago when doing a search for something else!
I saw saw one recently; I think it was Nicholas
Transcription, but can't remember for sure.
Anyone take the CMT test recently?
I was just thinking about taking it and wondered if anyone had any advise.
I have been on both sides and recently sm
I had a team and their QA to oversee. The "recruiter" would hire anyone she knew who could type. This was a teaching hospital, very large, very difficult and a challenge to those of us with plenty of experience. I could not fire an MT and if I told the MT manager that this so and so could not do the job, I was told to TEACH HER to do it and in the mean time, fix her reports.
I did have some MTs who wanted to learn, had had a bit of experience, and were anxious to progress. I spent a lot of time on them because they took to suggestions and they worked hard. The ones who not MTs, hadn't studied and were clueless, I had the option of assigning them very little work, which is what I did and I did out of self-preservation. There are only 24 hrs in a day and I was working 20 of them!
I have two jobs right now and QA at one I know very well, having worked with her for years. She only sends back a corrected a report in its entirety. The blanks she filled in are changed to a red font. I can see it, I can learn and I keep every one of her reports in a special folder in my email. I am trying to learn 3 doctors who chased away several other MTs on this account. One has a speech impediment and talks very very fast, one has an accent and talks too fast in the face of it and the third is a speed dictator who doesn't think that words need to be pronounced to be understood. The rest of the physicians don't present a problem. It has been difficult because I have had these 3 doctors about twice each and not enough to tackle the learning curve YET. In any case, this QA is patient and she never ever offers personal comments of a derogatory nature.
The other company I work for, I think that QA is nonexistent, other than when they are throwing their weight around. I had one particular report, an I&D of a sebaceous cyst. The doctor followed with this "cheesy material" which is what I transcribed. They called me on the phone to tell me that the doctor "never would have said that" and I said I'd stake my reputation as an MT that he did! She said, well...you're still wrong. Ummm no, I am not. That is lack of experience, knowledge or even a decent ear. No wonder we are on the verge of losing the account, yet again.
Now, I worked for a company where the QA person treated everyone like they were about 2 yrs old. I had her call me names like $toopid, moronic, an imbecile and whenever she used a word of 3 syllables, told me to look it up since I was not bright enough to understand what she was talking about. The owner, when I complained, said that is just how she is, but that she is so good at what she does... I said look, she represents your company and what you stand for. If this is all you have to offer, I am leaving, and I did.
SOME QA gals seem to have a chip on their shoulders. I am of the opinion that those who can do this job, do it and those who are knowledgeable, but can't do the job, do QA. I know several QA people who have CTS and can't type anymore, so they QA and I think that is a bit different.
It is widely understood that the very best MTs are not QA people, they are still MTs. I could not, would not take a 50% or better pay cut to be a QA person. I am far too fast and too capable for that. Neither company I work for presently would ever put me on QA because I am extremely valuable as an MT. Transcribing is my stock and trade and I can't see giving that up for anyone.
Remember as well, there are reasons that we work at home, and I am talking psychological reasons. I can't stand office politics and I don't like people. I am told I don't play well with others, and this is a correct assessment. Others have their issues too, and some of these issues creep up with QAs who seem to need some therapy and help dealing with people. This seems to attract people with a decided need to be the biggest fish in the smallest pond and throw their fins about to get attention.
When I did my resume recently (sm)
I listed the companies and underneath put a brief summary of my duties. One company I had worked for a very long time and held multiple positions in the company based on my "life needs" at the time, you know, MT, supervisor, part time at home with little ones, etc. I just kind of briefly stated that I had held multiple positions within that company.
Seems like resumes used to also contain a "position sought" or "goal" line and in that line I would clearly state that I was looking for supplemental income and to maintain my active transcription skills. Perhaps that will be enough of a "continuing ed" spin that any recruiter worth their salt would surely understand.
I recently asked the same
question (about a week ago) with little reply. Only one other person replied and suggested Bose noise reducing earphones. I just purchased a pair of Glimmer Insight from transcriptiongear.com. They also do not have a seperate volume control, which would be nice. I also purchased a pair of earmuff style headphones just in case the others hurt my ears, Skullcandy lowriders. I don't care for the "urban" design of them, but the sound is very crisp and clear. Again, no volume control on those.
I've seen a few recently that are sm
upgraded to work with Vista, but not many. I think there are too many quirks with Vista (my opinion) and not everyone is ready to upgrade their systems to be compatible. If you work IC, buy a computer with XP and write it off on taxes.
Wasn't there a gal recently who was getting out of MT and going to
I wonder how that's going. That's what I REALLY want to do. I have just about reached the camel's last straw with this job.
My clinic has gone to this recently...sm
Our clinic went to this in October. The doctors started using it for their clinic notes in November. Right now my dictation has been cut down to less than half of what it was and they still don't have all the appropriate templates set up yet, so I am expecting in the next 3-6 months there will be no more dictation at all. Right now I am having to find other things to do because the dictation is so sporadic. I don't have any experience doing anything other than medical transcription my entire adult working life (30+ years), so needless to say this is very difficult for me to adapt to.
My MTSO has recently been
emphazing this. As I understand it from what I was told, 99.9% of the time there is a comma before "which." An example of now to use one is "The patient has a cold for which she is being treated with ....."
When used as "the patient had a chest x-ray, which showed ..." you use a comma. I really don't understand what difference it makes, but we hvae been told to use it. In fact, they gave us a way to enter it in our autocorrect so it automatically puts one in, which can be irritating at times when you don't need it.
|
