  If only...women came with pull-down menus and online help.
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Installing New Software - The Babyfood Method
You are ready to settle in for an evening of software installation frenzy. You've got to have it all on your computer as soon as possible or you just might explode! I mean, the sooner you get this stuff on your computer, the sooner you can do some serious POWER COMPUTING! I've got a name for the above scenario folks. It's called a SoftwareFest, and you really need to sit down and think this one out before you leap. It's nice to have these nice big hard drives and all the RAM that's available now, but your computer can be like a big baby sometimes. It doesn't like having all sorts of changes at once.
If you have installed 4 or 5 new programs, and your system starts acting a little funny, you and all the technicians in Silicon Valley are going to have to put on an extra pot of coffee while you all figure out what brought on the problem. A good way to install new software is one application at a time. Wait several days before installing any more. During that time, put the new program through all the paces you can. Check the other programs on your computer to make sure they haven't been affected. Look for error messages that haven't been present before. When you are satisfied that all is well, you are ready for the next software adventure. It's sort of like feeding a baby peas for the first time, then waiting for the rash.
Got questions?
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So...you're just back from the neatest software store this side of the planet, and your timing is right on the mark. They happened to have the "Sale of The Century", and you loaded up on all sorts of really nifty programs. Somewhat greedily, you grabbed up Microsoft Publisher, visualizing the feeling you would have at loading time. You have longed for ages to have the cyber tools necessary to turn out such things as greeting cards, announcements, letterheads and brochures. And then, GADZOOKS, is this for real or what? The elusive Star Trek AfterDark screen saver is not only physically present, IT'S ON SALE! You bet! And that's just the beginning! Entire sections of celestial cyber offerings in clip art collections (CD variety, of course). "Three of these ought to do it," you generously conclude, saving some for the equally needy. Uhhh, let's see, that's somewhere around forty five thousand clip art images just clamoring to unite with your Desktop Publishing software. And if that ain't all in our Nirvana, look at this! They're giving away free trial disks with a FULL MONTH FREE to browse the Information Superhighway! Wait! There's MORE! A nifty little calendar program that has all the right stuff to convert you into the most organized person since Ben Franklin. Go on!! You can hardly stand it!
A pediatrician will tell the parents of an infant to introduce new foods cautiously. When a new food is given to a baby, usually it is wise to wait about a week or so before introducing another new taste treat. This gives Mom and Dad a chance to make sure little Heathcliff isn't going to have a nasty allergic reaction to his food, and if he does, it will be pretty easy to isolate the culprit and stop feeding it to him.
The same thing applies to your computer. Sometimes a new software application, no matter how innocent you may think it is, can react with other programs on your computer and do all sorts of strange things, from just not working correctly, to crashing your entire system. It can also affect existing programs on your computer in ways you would never expect. When this sort of thing happens, the best person to call is usually the new software vendor. They have technicians on hand who have heard your problem before and can probably talk you through a fix over the phone quickly and efficiently.