Crawling

My gmail account has been crawling toward opening, taking a couple of minutes to bring up my email account when it used to take seconds. Often when there is a computer problem, I assume I've done 'something' to cause it, even though I know that I have done nothing. My son and I have argued about this far too often as he's convinced I screw up computers just so I can argue with him, while I am convinced that he accuses me of causing the problems when he doesn't know what's wrong and won't admit it.

Whatever.

However, knowing that I cannot discuss it with my resident expert without another argument, I went into the settings box to see if I inadvertently changed something (yeah, I know, that cannot happen--but it does), but everything was the way I wanted it. I tried changing the settings to see what options are available, but it was just the way I wanted it ... so I left it alone.

For a couple of weeks I've been unhappy with the account and frustrated trying to figure out why it doesn't work as well as it used to work. I'll admit I'm not the most patient person in some areas, which includes computer operation, but it's not an area where I have either knowledge or skill (which I find intimidating). However, if it once popped open, it should continue to pop open, and not popping open was simply not acceptable.

I've gone to the service page; I've read all the messages; I've tried to find anything that conforms to my issue and fix it myself; I usually give in, give up, and learn to live with whatever happens because it's easier than the argument it takes to explain it and fix whatever is wrong.

This morning, however, I saw a box at the top of the window that said "old version." Hm, I didn't know there was a "new" version, so I clicked on it. Zippidy doo dah! Up popped my mail in a new window fast as greased lightning. I went to my other gmail account and changed it to "old version," happily with the same results. I closed the site and reopened it several times, and it works as it used to work: fast!

I did not change this site to the newer version, so I'm not sure why that change was made. I tried the newer, faster version of my MSN hotmail account and found that it bogged down my computer to the point of being unusable; however, the minute I changed back to the older version, my computer was back to its former, faster operating speed.

Thus, I had already learned the lesson that "newer" doesn't always mean "better," and I usually leave well enough alone. But I didn't change my gmail account ... so why was it changed?

The questions remain: if I didn't upgrade to the newer version, was it just foisted on all gmail users? Are there other users out there who cannot figure out what has screwed up their gmail accounts? Was there a message I didn't get that said unless I opt out, my account is automatically upgraded?

And why would anyone change what was working well for something that doesn't work at all?