(Note: This was originally posted Tuesday, June 14, 2004 on Another Monkey. All references are to the versions of the programs available at the time. Note that this is the first mention of Alfred Bester's short story Fondly Fahrenheit.)
There are reports of new vulnerabilities being discovered in Internet Explorer. (Well, not exactly new, but new variants of old problems.) These vulnerabilities could allow nefarious sorts to do nefarious things to your computer. Microsoft seems to be a little tight-lipped on this one - no new patch (sorry, "service pack") has been released in the past few days to deal with this.
What's worrying me is that I'm hearing about other people having unusual PC problems recently. I know someone whose company has gone so far as to ban the use of Internet Explorer altogether.
I'm still thinking my problem is the heat, and also something to do with opening multiple Google searches simultaneously. Yesterday it was a search for information on James Joyce's Ulysses that did me in; today it was a search for a good informational link regarding Alfred Bester's Fondly Fahrenheit (a short story about an owner trying to deal with an android that malfunctions murderously when the temperature gets too high!)
I have a long posting I started working on this morning that I will eventually finish. In the meantime, I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow, June 16,2004, is the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday! Start reading James Joyce's Ulysses now, and you might be finished by next Bloomsday!
Showing posts with label Ancient History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ancient History. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
I hate computers
(Note: This was originally posted Sunday, May 23, 2004 on Another Monkey. Installing Norton SystemWorks turned out to be a huge problem, and uninstalling it would be even worse. I had successfully used Norton since I first got the computer in 1999, and this was the first hint of a problem. It's possible the issues were all hardware issues, and temperature-related.)
At least, I hate them when they don't work right. I hate mine right now.
No post yesterday, because my computer went south Friday night as I trued to do a spell-check on the 3 Brix Shy post (luckily, I remembered my oath and saved the post as I went along). That turned into a series of failures, and a series of ham-handed attempts at repair...once I thought I had my system stable, I decided it was time to finally load Norton SystemWorks 2004. Big mistake.
Something went wrong during the install. Maybe I have a virus. Maybe it tried to load to a bad part of my hard drive. Whatever, the install worked only partially, but now between 99% and 100% of system resources were being chewed up by Norton. I tried an uninstall...after a few attempts, I got the computer clean and functional. Then, like an idiot, I tried to install again...
My obsessive nature, and my personal philosophy of "If at first you don't succeed, apply more force" meant that I went through this cycle several times, resulting in a non-functioning partly uninstalled program that keeps insisting I activate it within the next 15 days.
I'm trying a few solutions. I've gotten enough resources freed up to let me use the Internet. Maybe I need a new PC...I've had this one for 4 years, but it's a 1999 model. Not ready to give up yet though. I'll keep trying to fix it. I don't want to keep hating my computer...
At least, I hate them when they don't work right. I hate mine right now.
No post yesterday, because my computer went south Friday night as I trued to do a spell-check on the 3 Brix Shy post (luckily, I remembered my oath and saved the post as I went along). That turned into a series of failures, and a series of ham-handed attempts at repair...once I thought I had my system stable, I decided it was time to finally load Norton SystemWorks 2004. Big mistake.
Something went wrong during the install. Maybe I have a virus. Maybe it tried to load to a bad part of my hard drive. Whatever, the install worked only partially, but now between 99% and 100% of system resources were being chewed up by Norton. I tried an uninstall...after a few attempts, I got the computer clean and functional. Then, like an idiot, I tried to install again...
My obsessive nature, and my personal philosophy of "If at first you don't succeed, apply more force" meant that I went through this cycle several times, resulting in a non-functioning partly uninstalled program that keeps insisting I activate it within the next 15 days.
I'm trying a few solutions. I've gotten enough resources freed up to let me use the Internet. Maybe I need a new PC...I've had this one for 4 years, but it's a 1999 model. Not ready to give up yet though. I'll keep trying to fix it. I don't want to keep hating my computer...
I, (state your name), do solemnly swear...
(Note: This post was originally published on Monday, May 17 2004 on Another Monkey. The problems referred to the then-current versions of Blogger, Internet Explorer, and Norton SystemWorks. The problem was primarily heat-related, and would continue to exist until just a few weeks ago, when a friend built and gave me a new computer. Blogger would introduce a "Recover Post" feature, which was itself pretty buggy, and then introduced an autosave function a few months ago. The Norton SystemWorks install would prove to be...problematic.)
...to always save my posts as I go along. Starting now.
I was working on a post that was as long and rambling as a label on a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. It was actually a combination of three ideas: a post about the influence that British TV and radio had on me as a pre-adolescent, a post about the cacophony of events in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that helped to lay the groundwork for the person I have become, and a post about the sheer number of cranks and crackpots out there who have put a lot of effort into creating very elaborate websites, and have muddied the pool of knowledge and information on the Internet (and made researching the previous two proto-posts virtually impossible) by dumping in random data sewage by the tanker load.
I was working on this, when my Internet Explorer crapped out. Twice. After the first time, I started this post. It crapped out the second time just before I could hit the “Save Draft” button. So now I’m writing this in Word. I hope I can bring it over without too much fuss.
Maybe the universe is trying to tell me I shouldn’t be doing this right now, and instead I should be compiling songs from a stack of CDs into a mix disc to play between bands at a friend's wedding, which is coming up in three weeks. Yes, that seems reasonable. That, or maybe I should finally hunker down and install my new copy of Norton SystemWorks now. Eh, I’ll go for the CD. Less like work!
...to always save my posts as I go along. Starting now.
I was working on a post that was as long and rambling as a label on a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. It was actually a combination of three ideas: a post about the influence that British TV and radio had on me as a pre-adolescent, a post about the cacophony of events in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that helped to lay the groundwork for the person I have become, and a post about the sheer number of cranks and crackpots out there who have put a lot of effort into creating very elaborate websites, and have muddied the pool of knowledge and information on the Internet (and made researching the previous two proto-posts virtually impossible) by dumping in random data sewage by the tanker load.
I was working on this, when my Internet Explorer crapped out. Twice. After the first time, I started this post. It crapped out the second time just before I could hit the “Save Draft” button. So now I’m writing this in Word. I hope I can bring it over without too much fuss.
Maybe the universe is trying to tell me I shouldn’t be doing this right now, and instead I should be compiling songs from a stack of CDs into a mix disc to play between bands at a friend's wedding, which is coming up in three weeks. Yes, that seems reasonable. That, or maybe I should finally hunker down and install my new copy of Norton SystemWorks now. Eh, I’ll go for the CD. Less like work!
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