Dear Windows Update

I would like to say a few words to the people in the Windows Update department...with a stick. Tonight's update took a half hour. Then when I restarted the computer, eight programs encountered problems and had to restart...including my anti-virus program. I ended having to restart after the restart...when it was all cut and done, this is an hour of my life I am not getting back. And to think I actually thought that I was going to get some writing done tonight. Windows Update...you suck.

Murphy's computer

I have suffered a rash of computer problems lately. And not just here at home either. It has not helped the writing at all (I turned in one article close to a week late).

The primary computer problem with the desktop computer is that it is a dinosaur. Combine that with my wife's impatience and it is not a good combination. If there were not things that we could only do with it, I would be attempted to smash it with a very large hammer.

What surprised me was the problems I had with accessing the internet from a friend's house. I was babysitting her daughter all weekend while she was taking reflexology classes. In the end, I just gave up trying to access the internet.

Computers---Can not be a modern writer without them, can not be sane writer with them.

Overheard at Best Buy

Last weekend, my wife and I dropped her laptop off at Bestbuy. We brought it at the beginning of the semester, and it has been useless sonce we brought it.

When we first brought it, we listened to the salesperson and brought a different anti-virus than Norton. And we had them optimized the two laptops (I also got one for business and school purposes; sharing the desktop computer is just too much of a pain).

Then we went home, and I unstalled Norton (which is bundled on every computer sold nowdays, or so it seems). It came out very easily. Then I installed the other anti-virus software (Trend Micro if you are curious) and Word 2007.

Then there was the standard Windows updates...one of which ended up in the blue screen of death on Toni's computer. So we ended taking her computer back to Bestbuy to have them fix that.

After getting it back (with them having to roll back the computer), all of a sudden, I could not get Norton to uninstall. And I spent hours trying to get it off the computer. So again back to Bestbuy, where I overheard a nerd say to another nerd (or whatever they are---maybe geeks) that the Norton removal tool was on the Malware disk.

Bestbuy calls Norton Malware.

Of course, after fighting with it that long, and remembering the night that I had my computer (the desktop) remote controlled from India (I think that the Norton service technician was in India) when we updated the Norton Internet Security, I understand the label.

Test posting using Word 2007

Hi everyone!

This is a test post using Word 2007. I am new to using the 2007 version. But given some of the difficulties encountered trying to fix Word 2003 on the desktop computer (I am still having problems from the system recovery), my wife and I decided to upgrade to the 2007 version when we brought our laptops.

Yes, I have a laptop computer now. I am having better luck with mine than Toni is having. She ended up with the blue screen of death today.

She brought a HP computer; I defaulted to a cheaper computer: a Toshiba.

My decision was based purely on my budget.

So now, I am trying to learn the ins and outs of this new version of Word. One of the types of documents that can be created is a blog post. So here I am, attempting to see if this function actually will work for me.

Have a good night everyone.

Computer Crash of June 2009

Yesterday was the only day this month that I did not have my wife, or someone else, scheduled to interrupt my workday as a writer.

So what happens...

Yep, that is right. A computer crash. Some dll got corrupted and Windows would not start; I was forced to hit system recovery.

So an eight hour writing day, a bunch of free time, and I have finally got Windows back up to date; my anti-virus reinstalled; two of my web browsers back up and MSN messenger.

I have yet to get the printer driver installed. Nor have I set up a different user section for my wife (mainly because she needs different settings for her Spanish homework and iTunes). And I haven't even thought about trying to recover my own files.

So I am at least a couple of more days away from doing any more writing.