no Internet

ah, the joys of being part of the connected world! i can live without a mobile, but not without email. well, for a couple of days i can, but then things start to go wrong.

last Sunday, i had no connection. i thought there might be a bug or something, so left it at that. but come Monday evening, still nothing. and that's when i remembered it had happened to me last year, too - when my antivirus was renewed. last year, Mr. J. had come to fix it, and luckily, i'd made some notes. so i tried re-installing my Internet and when it asked me for my IP, i actually had something to fill in those blanks. except it didn't help.

in a bid to leave Mr. J. out of it, i called the helpline. 3 times. the first time, it cut me off after 20 mns of waiting, the second time, it said to call back later cos there were too many calls, and finally, just after i'd got hold of something, the line went dead. thankfully, the person called me back but then spent the next 25 mns or so railing against me for not doing what she wanted. not true, except that what she wanted me to do had no effect. she kept talking to me like i was a child who didn't press the 'turn on' button... the fact that my computer speaks English and hers French didn't help. in the end, she gave up and said she'd send someone and it would cost 30 euros. and i decided to call Mr. J.

he came by tonight and proved to me that i had, in fact, done exactly what the woman had asked but that it really didn't work. he was stumped. he was stumped for 20 mns, until i told him it was probably something to do with my antivirus. that did it. we uninstalled it and Internet was back! as simple as that. except i'd just paid 50 euros for the renewal. Mr. J. did his best to reinstall it, but truth be told, it was a nightmare, so we gave up. he was already late for 2 other appointments, so he installed another, completely free, antivirus instead. the one he uses. well, if he can live with it, so can i.