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Jim's Scanner WoesHeh, even we great minds of technology have problems too. I shall endeavor to describe my latest run-in with the computer gods so that you might learn from my mistakes, or perhaps just laugh at my misfortune. About a year ago, I was wondering through a local computer superstore when I spied a display of scanners for $99.00. Well, I had always wanted a scanner, was a little flush, and figuring I might need one someday, I bought one. Of course, I rushed home and checked some of the product review sites to make sure I hadn't bought some piece of garbage. After finding pretty darned positive reviews, I felt relieved, then unpacked the scanner, plugged it all in and set it up on my desk. Where it sat collecting dust until last weekend. Yes, you're probably shaking your head and wondering. But the reality is that I never really needed one! I have never had the urge to scan anything until this weekend, when I wanted to do some work on a logo for Gadwall.com. I thought I'd snag a picture of a gadwall from a book and then trace over it, recolor it and generally make sure I wasn't violating any copyright laws. OK, so I finally had a use for the thing that's been function mostly as a shelf for the last 10 months. Sunday afternoon, I dig out the installation instructions and the disk and proceed to give it a shot. For the record, I HATE installing software. After about 45 minutes, I was ready. I pressed the right buttons but nothing worked. After trying everything that it says in the book, I finally paid attention to the hardware and realized that the dang thing was broken! OK, so now what? I tried to visit the manufacturer's web site. No luck. Couldn't connect. Then I tried to call their tech support line which was supposed to be open 7 days a week. Again, no one home. I was getting a little suspicious. I checked on the Internet, got their main corporate number and tried THAT. Nothing. Hmmmmm. "Well, maybe their phones AND their web site are down. I'll try tomorrow." On Monday morning, I still got no response. So I went to Alta Vista and did a search on Storm Technologies. They went Chapter 7 in November. So the moral of this story is "Install the dang thing BEFORE the company goes out of business!" Or don't buy it in the first place. Thank you for listening.
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