Having been born before the advent of computers, I am at a disadvantage in terms of upkeep and maintenance for my personal computer. The first experience of a serious nature with a computer was with a computer the size of a small house. It executed the exact functions the calculator in your mobile phone does - less, actually.

So not surprisingly, I am among of those who had to understand late in life what to do with a computer. And frankly, much of it wasn't too difficult. It made it easier that I got a job working for a company that made computers, and fixed them also. My workplace was adjacent to the service department, and I usually took advantage of having that team of 12 excellent men at my beck and call.

But, I work at home now, and when the time arrived to go wireless on my desktop Compaq, I was somewhat confused. My ISP - then Embarq - provided me the required USB network adapter, together with the modem. I was happy to discover that all I had to do along the lines of installation was just plug the USB wireless network adapter straight into my USB port.

Of course, I needed to make sure that the wireless antenna has not been interrupted in its performance by the fridge, the cordless phone, the beams in the ceiling; in other words, things I could do very little about. In that place, I eventually had to switch to an internal antenna, which worked better in some way. I could install the antenna myself, thus de-mystifying the computer fairly.

I've moved, and this time, have had to set up another home office desk, in a different challenging spot. To my computer's dismay, I'm in a basement, surrounded completely by cinder blocks. Our new ISP, who shall remain anonymous at this time, recommended I required a brand new modem, and my purchase was a Linksys modem.

Fortunately for me, the internal network adapter is functioning fine with the Linksys, and I have not had to purchase a corresponding Linksys USB network adapter, as I thought I might. Emboldened by all this "geek" work, and my fresh knowledge of computers, I have now learned how to confidently crack a case, and install a new hard drive. Turns out I'm not too old to learn a few new tricks.

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