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?

• just bought used laptop HELP - michelle
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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!   

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. 

Bought a desktop and a laptop a month ago.  The desktop had a problem with the CD drive not opening.  I called Dell and they promptly handled the situation.  The repair person called my home the following day to schedule an appointment.  He showed up on time, picked up after himself, etc.  Very polite and very professional. 

My only complaints so far:  being on hold for 40 minutes before talking with a Customer Service rep and the young man I spoke with when my call finally was answered.  Where he was from -- I don't know, but he had a very thick accent and with my southern twang ears, he was quite difficult to understand.

service is TERRIBLE.  Can't understand us.  I had to keep repeating my questions, still they did not seem to understand English.  I will never, never, never buy a Dell product again.  I just got it yesterday.  The computer is okay, but the service is the pits.  They have such strong accents, didn't understand me, I had to keep repeating my sentences, talking very slowly.  They also were hard to understand.  I want to write Dell corporate and complain, but can't even find a place that is not in India to complain to. 

After this experience, I am totally not worried about transcription going to India.  The quality must be so bad, after what I experienced, it will eventually come back.  Any company that outsources, the reports must be very poor quality.

A Holmes Family Safe Portable Heater, mostly because it's kid-friendly.  So far so good.  If my house burns down, though, I'll let you know :)  j/k  It had a lot of good features and keeps my bedroom toasty, which is probably a bit bigger than your office.

Straight from AAMT in the shrink-wrap (I got a discount through my employer)..

I don't call it a typo when they refer to it wrong twice, as they do in this instance.  I call it a mistake!  And it makes me lose confidence in the rest of the book, as well as lose respect for the authors.

If people find it amusing - WHY?  I don't think its acceptable to just expect typos in every book you buy, because I know darn well people are PAID to edit copy before its published, and someone wasn't doing their job!  With fiction I can snort with disgust and move on.  But professional books should be accureate, considering it was written BY AND FOR an entire industry based on inherentt perfectionism regarding the written word and terminology! 

I was forced to buy this book to supposedly hone MY skills, only to find THEIR skills are lacking.  This is the supposed bible of our industry!  I am referred to this book a zillion times in my company standards.  And if I cannot rely on it for accuracy, why yes, I am angry.  If you want to see me as a nutcase, that's your prerogative. 

I posted this oriiginally so people could mark this error in their book instead of perhaps putting the BOS spelling n their spell checker, and get penalized for repeated errors as a result.  I was hoping others might post any additional errors they had found in this publication, and we could help one another in this respect.  Perhaps someone might take this post seriously enough to do so, and if they do, I appreciate it.

one if my requirements was that there had to be a room that was decent enough to use for my office.  In order to qualify for the IRS home office deduction  you can't use your office as a bed room or anything else.  

I have the best view in the house in my office - I can see outside to the flower garden and also see the road so I can watch the people and cars going by during the day. 

this great little Holmes I-Touch electric heater probably from Lowe's or Home Depot.  Cost about $20... very light and compact with a blower.  Hmmmm, toasty!

It was on sale at Best Buy (there were only 3)  That is w/o the monitor, cause I didn't need one at the time.  I know the support people are usually Dave or Keith (yeah, right) they barely speak English, but I don't actually know where the computers are made.   Check for sales at Best Buy and get there early.

any ideas?

I use Word, but need Word Perfect for one account only.  Any pros or cons to purchasing OEM CD only software or do I need to bite the bullet.  It's my understanding you cannot buy Word Perfect alone without buying the suite. 

Any comments will be appreciated

worked on one about 5 years ago. Can't for the life of me figure out out to plug the telephone line in the Dictaphone!!! Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. TIA.

Never could get the hang of it so I gave up.

I would love to be able to use it, as I end up taking way too many breaks because my hands hurt.  I think if you can get it to work good your production would surely be higher.

after January 1st (tax reasons).  But I don't like that it is only in book format and not on CD.  I very, very seldom page through a book anymore.  All my references are on CD or the Internet.  Don't know why they did that.