My Computer's Broke

Sorting and burning.

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:43:11 GMT

Well I’m still working on backing up all my stuff on my computer. The problem is I discovered a new and improved problem. All my old backups are extremely disorganised. I basically have CD’s and DVD’s all over the place and I have no idea how in the world to organize them.

Backing up

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:37:38 GMT

Man this backing up thing is really dull. I can never really get a handle on when I should back up and what I should back up. My old tech friends said I really shouldn't have much on my computer at all, unless I'm working on that particular project at that particular moment. The problem is I'm always working on a whole bunch of things at once. Well I guess I'll just keep trucking.

Fixing it Part 1

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:00:25 GMT

So I’ve decided that I’m going to document my entire re-building of my computer from backing stuff up till I finally get it working after freaking out because I can’t find all my program software. I’m sure it’ll be exciting… or it’ll just be time passing. Either way I’m sure if you know anything about computers you’ll be amazed at how much I don’t know even though I use computers every day of my life.

I call it a fish

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 00:59:03 GMT

This weekend Allison picked me up an awesome little gadget, it plays MP3s, records stuff and is a flash drive too. I have a million uses for it but one little problem with it.

When I put it into my computer it started up worked and was generally just fine. I could upload; download all the things I needed to.

But when I put it in Allison’s computer it just didn’t want to work. She too is running XP, and her computer is also a Dell. It’s pretty much the same computer with a few less bells and whistles.

The strange thing is she gets that little green and grey icon in the bottom right bar.

But this little window doesn’t pop up, and explorer takes like 10 minutes to realise it is in and when you try to open in up explorer crashes. Any ideas?

Chris

My opinion on comments. Something I’ll publish on all my BLOGs at the same time.

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:51:45 GMT

I have to say that I don’t really know how to deal with comments or how they really work. Random people saying random things to me about things I’ve posted. Should I react when someone tells me I’m an idiot, or should I just sit around and take the abuse? I’ve noticed that when someone doesn’t really like what you’ve had to say and they post it many will often follow. Now either I’m really saying something stupid or when one person insults it opens the doors to others.

Having said that I’m also not really sure how to deal with simple non-offensive comments either. Things like a simple hello, or hey check out my site too. I will often check out the site but what do I do if that site isn’t really something I’m interested in. I’m not saying it sucks but I just don’t like Hummel figurines.

I’ve decided that I’m going to open comments all of my BLOGs from here on in. I’ll try it out as an experiment. I’m also going to try and be more attentive to the comments and say things to people when they visit. Please keep in mind that I’m a little socially awkward so it might come out a little strange.

Thank you

The Management.

Let go of My Coffee

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:12:24 GMT

I have a problem with a certain computer security company. Here’s how it goes:

When I bought my computer it came with a free trial version of McAfee. I had a little problem with a virus so I took advantage of my free trial and it cleared it up well. No problems. I decided to keep on board and considered even buying it. Then I learned that my Internet provider would give me free Norton Anti-Virus protection so I figured why pay for McAfee when I get Norton free. When my trial ran out I declined to purchase the full and switched. All is well with my heavily fortified computer except these little e-mails I get on a regular basis.

Now I’ve opted out of this e-mail about 4 times and it still keeps coming. I mean talk about flogging a dead horse. People from McAfee if you’re reading this, for the love of god stop sending them to me. I had even for a while thought about signing up for your system, but I believe justifiably if you’re already paying why pay again, but if this is your business practice I’ll think twice in the future. Wow this is the most grown up BLOG I’ve ever written.

Chris

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 02:38:32 GMT

So I own a Dell computer, you can laugh all you want but to be honest for the price I paid it’s not bad. My only problem is a pop thing that keeps trying to tell me I have to update Acrobat Reader.

Either Adobe is going nuts with the updates and changing it on a weekly basis, or there’s something wrong with this Dell pop up thingy.

Chris

No… Reel-y

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:41:56 GMT

I’m looking for a job, obviously if you’re reading this BLOG you’ll know it’s probably not as an IT guy. But I’m an artist/designer/writer type. I just put together the master for my reel and it was horrible.

The problem I had was how to test a DVD properly other than with your TV set.

The software was all good, but I ended up with many glitches that only really showed up while playing on a DVD player. What I’d really like to have is a DVD player simulator so I knew it everything was really working well or not.

Back again

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:17:14 GMT

So I have a technical problem, although I’m not sure if it’s really a technical problem or a psychological problem. Well it could be just problem with the rest of the world and I’m doing just fine. So let me get to the point.

I can’t get E-bay to work. I put things online but they just don’t sell. I guess I could put trackers on and see if people are visiting or even giving a dam, but it just appears that nothing I put up ever sells. Then every once in a while something sells that I don’t expect to sell at all.

I’ve heard that some people make big bucks on E-bay, so how do they do it?

Chris

I miss Cruel

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 20:04:08 GMT

Cruel was a fun game. I love my new computer, and my blood pressure has gone down a lot. But every once in a while, I get a little hankering for Cruel.

And Yahoo keeps reconfiguring its "Games" page to get less and less user-friendly. I guess they're trying to keep up with the times, but to me, they're just trying.

I only have one technical problem today: how to make the phone ring when you're waiting for just one phone call (to help somebody *else*, no less), and then you can leave work for the day.

Allison

It happened!

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:35:40 GMT

I'm sitting here writing this on my new computer, which I've had for a while now. It's painless, easy, and responsive! No more special needs computing for me, thank you.

Yippee!!

This, after two weeks of dealing with certain conversion issues. And I can't play the game "Cruel" anymore since this computer refuses to bother trying to read such primitive programming. Worth it, I say.

Allison

Finally Gave Up

Tue, 02 May 2006 16:41:12 GMT

I have decided to take back chunks of my life. Significant tracts of time that I spend unneccessarily.

Yes, I am about to rid myself of my special needs computer. 32 MB of RAM and a 4 GB hard drive will soon be a thing of the past. Not that these specs were particularly bad. The fact that to defrag used to take all night, and to exit from just about any program took on average 5 minutes. That's why my computer is special needs... it's very slow. Excruciatingly slow.

So last Saturday, I took the bull by the horns and ordered myself a new one. No laptops for me this time! I got my laptop for portability, but the battery never lasted for more than 5 or 6 seconds, even after having everything "fixed" while it was still under warranty. So there I was, tethered to my desk even though I have a "laptop". Ha!

Now, I'm going to have a desktop... 160 gig hard drive, 512 MB RAM, a bunch of other stuff that I don't even understand. It's going to be cool! Way cheaper than a laptop with more bells and whistles, and exactly as portable as my current laptop!

It's the best of all worlds.

Now what I'm doing is checking the Dell website to see where they are in the "production process" of my new computer!

Allison

This journal is getting boring

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 20:51:18 GMT

Here's an interesting glitch.

I started a new job on September 2, 2005. It took until today (November 18, 2005) to get my business cards. But by this point, I've probably met everyone I will meet before I transfer to another department next August. Then I'll just need new cards, and I'll likely not have given out any of the ones I've just gotten.

Also...

When I got here, my office was in a terrible state. The worst set-up imaginable. So I called the furniture moving people to come and arrange to move it. Two weeks later, they made an appointment to come and look at it to see what they could do, notwithstanding that I already knew what configuation would work for me. The appointment was for a week and a half later.

The day of the appointment came and went, and they didn't show up. A week later, they apologized, and said to call them later on and they would come. This eventually happened about three weeks later.

They then said that they would be able to move my furniture in about a week and a half. About two weeks later, they sent me an email telling me that my "request for moving services" had been approved, and asked me for a bunch of accounting codes. Luckily, they had cc'd the administration goddess in my department and she took care of it that afternoon.

That was three weeks ago. I'm still waiting for an appointment to have my furniture moved.

I'm sure it will probably happen the day after I transfer out.

Allison

What? No problems?

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 17:12:11 GMT

I gotta say, this journal's getting pretty boring. I mean, isn't anyone having any technical problems lately? Or are there so many that no-one can get online to whine and complain about them?

Here's a technical problem... how do you get 7 layers of both oil and latex paint off of a nice wood banister, to show the wood, when the person who originally painted it didn't use any primer?

Or... how do you erase big black stripes on a wall that were used to position wallpaper, when a pencil line would have been just fine?

Or... how do you paint over latex paint that's been painted over oil paint, so it's flaking everywhere?

I've discovered the joys of oil-based primer for the second question, and a combination of oil-based primer and sandpaper for the third. For the first? Toxic goo, metal scrapers, sandpaper, and a whole lot of elbow grease.

Ah, the joys of home ownership. Sigh.

P.S. For anyone who's painting - FIND OUT if you're painting over oil or latex FIRST, then prime with an oil-based primer before painting with latex. The next people who paint after you will not curse you then. Thanks. (Of course, the people who painted before me did the oil layer, too, so they knew the evil they were doing, or were just too lazy to inform themselves.)

Allison

50 computers, and not one that works

Fri, 06 May 2005 15:09:31 GMT

So here I am at work. We have three computer rooms. Some computers have MSWord, some don't. Some have Internet browsers that work, some don't. Some have sound cards that work, some don't. Some have MSN Messenger, some don't. Are there any where everything works? I don't think so. Except maybe the one I'm on right now.

So there are really more like 18 computers. Of these 18 computers, it is possible to find maybe one or two in good working order at any one time. And about 200 people competing for them.

There are something like 3 full-time people who "look after" the computers, but I have never seen any of them in the computer rooms. I think they're playing Doom in their office or something.

The most common frustration with these computers is the fact that they completely freeze up whenever you do anything at all with them. Multitasking? Fuhgeddaboudit!! You just have to wait for your document to save or your webpage to load before you can even move the cursor. It sucks.

The kicker? Everything would probably be ok if they would just shut down/restart the computers once a day. They don't.

Allison

Nothing So Far

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 05:02:10 GMT

I'm happy to report that the reason for the lack of updates is because nothing has been going wrong with my computer (knock on wood!!) However, I do have a few complaints.
For instance:

When I got my computer it came equipped with a bunch of "demo programs". Of course evaluation before purchase type programs. I have literally 100's of these type programs already set in my computer. I have been too lazy to go through it and delete all the "internet games" out of my program list. Why do people like to waste my life?

Also, recently my photo wizard stopped appearing after I connected my camera. I have NO idea how to get it to appear again. The only info I've gotten is off the web and it involves me going into system programs in which I dare not explore. I've screwed up my computer too many times in the past, I'm treating this one like a baby (except I swear at it a lot)
If anyone knows a simple way of fixing this problem, I would be more then happy to hear it.

Other then that everything seems to be in tip-top shape. A few minor annoyances, but I haven't had to drop kick my CPU which is good.

Until next time something breaks.

-Kristal

Bad Card

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 15:57:12 GMT

As you may have notice the updates here are getting pretty thin. Now you may be thinking that I’m just getting lazy but that’s not true. As usual technology has a way of biting me in the ass. You see the minute I find an entertaining way of dealing with my computer and technological problems, everything I own all of a sudden works thus making a BLOG about things not working… Well not work.

But alas my fun is over; my computer is in fact broke once again. Let me explain it this way…

This is Windows XP pro (for most of you out there this is what a legal copy looks like).

This is a green piece of electronic something or other that allows me to plug in things like…

My video camera…

And my digital Wallet (for my digital camera).

You see Windows XP…

And this green gadget thingy don’t get along.

Thus making my camera…

And digital wallet, useless.

I’ve tried updating Windows, and nothing seems to work. I’ll continue to try and I might even have to re-install.

Making me wish I never bought this.

Adding all of these to the mix.

I’m sure you can feel my pain.

Later

By Chris

Busted T's

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 05:27:30 GMT

Hey is your computer not working, want to let the world know how incapable you are? Well here's your chance with a sharp "My Computer's Broke" T-shirt. Stand tall in your inability to work your router, unite in a failing operating system, don't quite until smoke is pouring from your CPU.

Buy one and stand tall brother!

I’m in a bliss full state of computer happiness.

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 02:46:27 GMT

So as I've said before that the one thing that didn't work on my computer, that I had given up hope was my router. In my household we run up to 3 computers at any given time, so a router is really helpful, and living without it was a little hellish. So you could say that my evil computer was creating a world of hell for me.

Well on the advise of Zexos, well more of a suggestion I went to a local big box crazy large everything on the shelf computer, office, toy, pencil, selling machine of a store and took advantage of one of their great deals. So now for less than I could get on e-bay I got me a new router with wireless something or other. Not going to use the wireless stuff, but I figure the radiation or whatever it produces will give me cancer soon anyways and I could always use that lawsuit dough.

The worst part about this little gem was as most things do with me, it didn't work. Between two of us we went through just about every type of trouble shooting craziness that was available to us. We fought, we cried, and I lost a little blood. It didn't take much time to realize that the problem was not in the computers, not in our new, and very inexpensive router, but in a cable.

My computer has become so evil that it now corrupts even the defenseless cables. Think of the poor cables sitting on the floor minding their own business, and all of a sudden Mr. Computer comes along and bullies him to screw things up for me. The unfortunate part of this story is when a cable goes bad the only thing you can do is gut it. Weep my friends, weep for the innocent cables, the ones corrupted by horrible computers like mine. Don't turn away, the horror is too true.

Needless to say everything is working great, thanks for asking!

By Chris

Working

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 13:42:43 GMT

So it appears that my "evil" computer is still evil. Why do you ask? Well it's simple, it's been working fine. Not a single problem with it since I discovered it was evil. I figure it's playing possum, it knows what I type in this BLOG and it wants to gain back a false sense of trust, then bam, it'll do something completely irrational.

Oh sure I'm aware of the karmic reaction this BLOG I'm typing now will have, but I'll take the chance.

By Chris

I Think I Rely on Technology Too Much

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 18:48:56 GMT

I used to have a phone. No, really, I did. Now I just have a cell phone, which also is a phone but a different kind of phone.

My phone was one of those high-tech thingies that lets you save your friends' numbers on the handset. It was nice. When a friend calls you, you can just hit "save" on the handset, and their number is in your little handset address book.

Last weekend I picked up my cell phone to call my friend Paula. Her numbers in there were her old ones, from before she moved to a different city. Makes sense. So then I checked my Palm Pilot. Same deal. Outlook is synched to my Palm Pilot, so no sense looking there.

I was sure I had her new number! And then it hit me. It's on my phone. The one that I had plugged into my land line. The one that hasn't been on its charger for more than 2 months, and is packed away at the back of the closet.

Oops.

Ah well, at least I had the Internet. I could look up her number. Glad some technology was working for me that day.

by:
Allison

my computer

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 05:55:23 GMT

I'd like you to meet my computer, sure I've described it for you in the past, all the problems, issues and strange noises, but do you really know my computer? This is my computer, it doesn't really have a name, but I can tell you one thing, it's evil. My computer is pure evil. I know people say you should be nice to objects and that leads to better functionality, but my computer knows this trick. The worst part is since my computer knows this trick and it's evil, it uses it against me to basically make my life insane.

The reason I say all this? Well it's simple, my video camera and digital wallet work, sometimes, I say sometimes as in at any given random moment. It seems to work particularly well at about 2 am when I'm just about to give up, just late enough to keep me up trying to finish everything.

This is my computer, I do stuff on it, and it's evil.

By Chris

Lies are mine to be had.

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 15:42:46 GMT

In a previous BLOG I mentioned my triumph over my computer. I mentioned the sheer simplicity of wiggling a couple of things and making it work... Well this weekend things went bad. The ultimate horrible thing happened, it re-broke itself. This is something that I normally can't deal with generally creates a rage in me that is uncontrollable (see Incredible Hulk for reference, although slightly less "incredible"). So once again my computer is, as the title of this BLOG would say broke. Zexos has offered some advice, which I will try tonight, although I should warn you all, you don't want to see me angry.

By Chris

Stupid TV Stations

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:33:59 GMT

Every week, I watch the Amazing Race. I love that show! But I hate having to stick to somebody else's schedule, so I tape it, even if I'm home. That way I don't have to sit through commercials, either. And it's not like advertisers are losing any business from me because all I do during commercials is zone out anyway.

Here in Canada, the Amazing Race is on CTV. It's the Number One network in Canada, with their Toronto station having something like 73% of the local market share. This makes them drunk with power. So they change their schedule all the time with little to no notice. This has been a big problem for me before, including missing Corner Gas (honestly the funniest show on TV) this week because they suddenly changed the day they put it on.

So there I was on Tuesday at 9:00, safe and happy in the belief that the Amazing Race was happily taping as usual. Sure, I was home, but there was no need to turn on the TV until I was ready. So at about 11:10, I rewound the tape, only to find that American Idol was on. During the Corner Gas time (8-8:30). I was a little upset, but fast forwarded to 9:00 to get my Race, and it was STILL American Idol!!! I'm not even American!!

Then, I saw it. The ad that said Amazing Race would be on at a "special time" of 10:00 tonight. AAARRRRGH! And just what makes 10:00 so darn special, I'd like to know. Special in that people like me who count on regular programming get screwed.

So then I waited 24 hours, to check out at least the summary on the Internet. It kinda sucks, but then at least I can figure out sorta what happened. It turned out that the moment we've all been waiting for happened - Jonathan and Victoria got eliminated!!! I just had to see video clips of that!!!

A reminder that my computer is Special Needs.

So there I was, in the excitement of it all, clicking on the video link to see Jonathan and Victoria's final blame game, and then, of course, it happened. A weird black screen, meaning my computer sucks. So I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del a couple of times to reboot.

It rebooted back to the weird black screen. Great. So then I manually shut down.

I booted up again, and it came up in "safe mode", as if it thinks I know how to do any diagnostics. I was supposed to check my network and hardware settings. OK. I've done that in the past - opened up my control panel, clicked on those things, exited, rebooted, and fine. So I figured since I'd never made any changes, I could just reboot and it would be OK, without even going to the control panel.

Rebooted back into safe mode. This time I went into the control panel and clicked on hardware and network settings. Rebooted...

... back into safe mode.

I was starting to think I'd never be able to use my computer again. Wishing I'd back up my hard drive more recently than last October.

I went back to the control panel, and this time went into my network settings. I poked around a bit, then hit OK without changing anything. The computer went through some kind of motions of building a driver database, and then I rebooted.

Finally, normal!!

I will never try to watch videos on my computer again. Sigh.

And I guess the moral of the story is that I have to check CTV's web page (and hope it's updated) every single time I want to watch something. Man, I hate those power-drunk TV stations!!! Curse them for having all the good shows!!!!!

by:
Allison

Finally I got it done.

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 05:24:03 GMT

I did it!
I fixed my ports on my computer and with the backing up I've been doing lately I'm running pretty well right now... Dam it; now I've done it, I've cursed myself. I just expect something really horrible to happen now. Or maybe by knowing that something horrible will happen that'll kill off the curse, but wait since I know that maybe it brings it back... I'm in trouble, or maybe not, I don't know.

Anyways here are some shots of me fixing things:

I had to move a lot of stuff to get to my computer, reason number one I prolonged it.

I discovered quickly that it had something to do with the cables. Nice feet eh?

So I resorted to the number one computer repair technique I know, I jiggled stuff and hoped a lot.

So there's my tip of the day, jiggle and hope.

By Chris