Computer says no

I am reasonably competent using my computer without being an expert. I know that other people fear their machines and worry about what could go wrong. Yesterday I hit the buffers. I have an Excel workbook that I have used for more years than I care to remember. It is fed data by a supplier via DDE links. It has run smoothly until yesterday. After a restart the data link was broken and nothing I could think of would fix it.

As ever my first port of call was the internet which on this occasion was no help. People had struggled unsuccessfully with the problem for years. Microsoft was notably silent on the subject. My data supplier (Sharescope) said it was the fault of Excel which got more and more buggy as it added features. Recommendation: use Open Office.

Having struggled for hours with Excel I moved to Open Office where the links worked fine but my beautifully crafted worksheets had been mangled. Worse, the macros which made the workbook such a joy to use and such an awesome analytical tool  had stopped working. A bit of research revealed that Excel macros are incompatible with Open Office. A complete rewrite would be needed, way beyond my skills.

Still, Open Office did the job in a rather clunking fashion. The result of all this was that I concentrated on the technical problem and not the fate of my shares. A blessing in disguise perhaps. Several of my holdings were in solar energy technology. The whole sector came in for a battering because a major player came in with bad results. In addition BITA was knocked back by a fund raising announcement. Net result: a disastrous Friday for my shares. Yesterday, when I was not watching, there was a follow though on the solar industry setback. Yet another ghastly day.

I continue to struggle with my computer problem. I have two lines of attack. The ideal solution would be a fix for the Excel problem to take me back to a system I know well. I could quickly update the sheet so it was possible to see how each share was moving through the day. Second line of attack is to polish the system on Open Office.

Then a brainwave struck. I went into Excel options and found some adjustments that let the DDE links work. Joy is unbounded. The only thing I have yet to do is to turn off Excel and turn it back on again. When that happens I may be back to square one. I'll let you know.

Today all those grumbling shares are coming back so perhaps it was a good thing to take my eye off the ball.