OFF: was Re: HW: CD finds

[Frank Weil]

>>ObAnnoyance: Having 5 (count 'em: 5) system crashes on my home computer
>>over the last several months, hopelessly squashing any plans to revamp
>>the Golden Void site any time soon.  I refuse to let the *&#^$% system
>>get the better of me, though.
>
>5 in several months - i'd been having 4 or 5 a day!!!!!

I don't mean a Blue Screen of Death.  I mean crash as in "time to
buy a new hard drive, do a fresh install, and try to recover what
I can from backup" kind of crashes.  Current count: 2 hardware
failures on my old drive, a brand new replacement disk that was bad,
a tape backup drive that didn't simply fail - but destroyed the
current backup tapes in the process, and numerous - seemingly
random - software instabilities that were bad enough to not even
allow Windows to boot at all.  I know I don't have any viruses on
the system, so clearly it is a plot by the Evil Empire.

One might hope that it would take something less than a PhD in
Electrical Engineering (which I have) to maintain a home computer.
It is to the point where even my wife, who is generally not amused
when I spend large chunks of money on electronic toys, has asked
me to just please buy a new computer and throw this one out.
"Never", I say, "for that would be admitting defeat."  Of course,
I'm sure I'll get a new one after I have hacked this one back into
shape because the newer machines put mine to shame.  I mean, what's
the point of playing games in anything less than full hardware-
accelerated 3D so that the blood splatters from dismembered aliens
glisten in the moonlight with life-like characteristics?  :-)

Frank

--
There are two kinds of skiers:
1) Those who blast through the moguls at high speeds with no
   regard for personal safety.
2) Losers.
============================================================
        Frank Weil | frankw at comm.mot.com
   phone: (847) 576-3110 | fax: (847) 576-3240