I hate computers

[Brendan Moody]

A few months ago I was trying to use the wireless network in the library. One of the 10,000 things various relevant tech support websites suggested was installing some random program, so I did. I noticed after installing it that the Windows XP Welcome screen had been replaced by the older login box. I didn't really care at the time, and sort of forgot about the change for a few months.

Tonight I got sick of looking at the login box, so I went into the control panel to make it go away. Control Panel informed me that that random program from last year was preventing use of the welcome screen, so I uninstalled the program and went back into the Control Panel. This time it said that some program it couldn't identify was rejecting the welcome screen, and gave a filename that could theoretically help me figure out which program it was.

The filename led to some files associated with the laptop wireless card, which I sure as heck wasn't going to get rid of, and couldn't really be the problem anyway. So I sat around sulkily for a little bit, and started writing this post. Then I went back into Control Panel to check the exact wording of the error message, and this time it let me bring back the Welcome Screen.

I'm sure there's a logical explanation that's simply beyond me, but the bottom line is: I hate computers.

[Steve the Crowned One]

Perhaps your computer is gaining sentience!

Quick, ask it to compute pi to the last decimal place. That usually stops 'em dead.

[Brendan Moody]

I tried that. It said something strange about flour and sugar and cherries and a pre-heated oven.

[Steve the Crowned One]

I prefer apples, myself.

[Brendan Moody]

I still hate computers.

For no reason that I can determine, my computer now loads up my desktop with astonishing slowness. As in "two hours, and it's not done yet" slowness. I can't do anything with it but sit and wait and wait and wait.

Fortunately, it logs out at normal speed, and the guest account still works properly, so I can get online and bitch about this, which is of course the most important thing.

I haven't added any software or anything recently that could have caused such a change. So I'm just gonna hope it goes away eventually.

[Brendan Moody]

It went away.

I hate computers.

[Brendan Moody]

Question for someone with computer/Internet knowhow: why, when I click on the "Webcast" link on this page, (a) in Firefox, am I informed that "rtsp is not a registered protocol" and unable to access the webcast using Firefox; and (b) in IE, am I told that the page does not exist? Other people are not having this problem.

[ATimson]

(a) is because either you don't have RealPlayer installed, or Firefox doesn't know that you do. Installing/reinstalling it should fix that. I don't know why IE is saying that it can't be found; it should say something like what Firefox is if it has the same problem.

[Brendan Moody]

I thought that might be what was up with Mozilla. I do have RealPlayer installed, though now it seems to be shutting itself down immediately after launch. *sigh*

Update in a bit.

Thanks, of course.

[ATimson]

Not a problem.

[Brendan Moody]

OK, I updated to the most recent version of RealPlayer. Mozilla still doesn't recognize it, and it's still closing itself automatically. I give up. I already know all the worthwhile stuff from the webcast, anyway.

[Brendan Moody]

Damn it, Firefox, stop crashing every five minutes!

[Michael Schuster]

I don't hate computers, but nobody else was using this thread recently, so I decided to revive it.

The thing is, I'm actually considering buying a Sony Reader ... eventually. On the one hand I want to own the books in physical form and to be able to look at them on the shelves. On the other, I knwo that at the rate I'm buying books, I'll soon need a house to store them all, so it would be wise to reduce the required space down to virtually nothing by buying them as computer files.

For the moment, however, such an acquisition is out of the question. If I get to rent that flat I'm interested in, I'll need all the money I can get to put some furniture in.

So, the point of this post is ...

(But since when did our posts here have points?)

[ATimson]

Owning books in physical form can be nice, though less so for mass-market paperbacks (especially from Simon and Schuster, given the number of problem books I've had over the years). But thanks to SCE showing me that they didn't suck I went ebooks where I could five years ago, and haven't looked back.

I've actually been thinking about getting a Kindle for a while, even more so now that they announced the new one that can actually hold my entire library. (Thank goodness for ConvertLIT, so I can turn my entire MS Reader library Kindle-friendly. Won't get automatic redownloads from Amazon, but that's a small price to pay for not rebuying everything.)

Fortunately, I had a complete set of furniture from when I was at my parents' house I was able to take with me when I moved into my apartment. All I bought was two bookcases and two lights. Oh, and I stole the old couch and kitchen table from the basement.

[Steve the Crowned One]

Parents' old furniture is a lifesaver, isn't it? My parents saved everything they replaced for the past three years or so, promising it to the first child to move out, so I made off with a kitchen table, some side tables, bookshelf, and an entertainment center. Plus, I was allowed to take my bedroom set with me. And my mother told me I could have whatever couch I liked, since she hated all of them.

The only thing I didn't have was a desk-- I could have, but the one in my old bedroom was too large to be practical in an apartment-- but it pays to ask around; some family friends had a small one in the basement.

[Jon P]

Is there a way to copy text out of Word w/o the formatting? Blogspot is screwing up when I past into it, so I am having to paste the text into some random program I have and then copy that. Surely there is a better way.

[allyngibson]

Does Blogspot use a WYSIWIG rich text editor? If so, try turning it off. The rich text editor would try to import the formatting. If you have a non-rich text editor, it should strip the formatting when you paste.

[Brendan Moody]

Let's say I wanted an inexpensive (under $1000) laptop that wasn't going to crap out within the next year and that included a decent wireless card. Hard drive size isn't a big issue. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Steve the Crowned One]

I'm a fan of my Toshiba. It cost me $800, and I've had it 3.5 years now, never a problem. I'm not sure what its model name is, but I see the word "Satellite" printed on it.

My sister had a more upscale Toshiba (since it was much newer) that she really liked, and I don't think it was that much more. Nor do I think she ever had any problems. (Indeed, she sold it to my mother and bought my brother's old laptop-- and then that one died. Whoops.)

[Brendan Moody]

I found an inexpensive Toshiba Satellite that had the features I was looking for, so I've ordered it. If anything ever goes wrong with it I'll be blaming Steve, of course.

[Brendan Moody]

The new laptop has arrived, and lo, I am posting from it.

It amazes me how many features are now regarded as standard on an inexpensive laptop. This thing has a built-in webcam, not that I will ever use it.