A Bad Computer Malfunction

I had a bad computer malfunction today. One that can't be fixed easily, such as snapping the stupid thing back on. Good grief, what ever happened to simple functionality?

I have a laptop computer and the SHIFT key went bad, then went askew, then came off all together when I tried to straighten it. But it's a keyboard where the keys don't just pop on and off. They're on there with tiny little hooks that are obviously prone to disaster.

The shift key hasn't been working well for a few days. I push it and nothing happens. Before that it was the A key that wouldn't work. Then the shift key, which is just down from the A. So I thought maybe there was a piece of dirt under there. I spritzed it with the canned air and it seemed OK.

Then today the Shift key took in again with the problems, until the incident described above happened.

Now I have to get it fixed, which is not a simple matter ... especially if you have to send it in. That can take forever. And apparently they have to wipe the hard drive clean to its original factory specs. I don't want that! I worked like a dog to get this computer set up the way I want, with the programs I want on it.

So I'm going to call the computer shops and see what my other options are. This is insane.

It's an HP notebook computer. I'm not happy with them right now. And I won't forget this.

The Most Common Passwords

I read an article sometime recently, maybe this morning or yesterday, and I think it was at the NY Times, on the most common passwords.

Without looking at the article, it seems that "123456" is one of the most common passwords, accounting for about 5% of all passwords (or some staggering figure). I don't think they mentioned "abcdefg" as one, but I'd think that'd have to be a natural series for the lazy password maker.

Maybe if you mixed them up, like "a1b2c3d4," etc., you could come up with something tough to guess. You could be even tricker and go down, with the number for the "a" being the original number for the "d" or "e," and so forth, like "a5b4c3d2e1." That'd be a tough one to guess if it wasn't a recognizable series.

It also said that "password" is a common password. That's very lazy. I won't say what mine are or the sequences, etc., except some of them are trickier than that. I have a few that are "easy," but still not as easy as that.

The big problem with passwords is remembering what they are. Sometimes I need to hire a hacker just to figure out what my password is!

Staring At My Computer

I should've gone to bed an hour ago. I'm tired enough. But I guess I'm addicted to sitting here staring at my computer. Like I'm always expecting something different to happen.

I got a new one a few weeks ago, and you'd think the novelty would've worn off by now. But it hasn't. I'm still fascinated with it, watching it go fast, etc. I've had slow computers all my life ... I should say ever since I've had one.

But pretty soon my underlying discipline will come to the fore. I'm starting to get dizzy anyway. Sleep deprivation, since I get up everyday at 5:30 whether I want to or not.

The first thing I do is go to the bathroom. The second thing is I come in here and stare at the computer.

My Windows 7 Computer

I finally got a different computer. I'm still using my old ones, though, because I haven't got everything installed on my new one, plus I'm thinking I might need to, because it doesn't seem like everything I used installs quite right.

I have some sound editing software, and there's some flukey thing about Windows 7 not having a way to record sound without having the built-in microphone also on. A big duh moment there for Microsoft? A giant step backwards?

My old Eudora mail program wouldn't install.

And I have some other work software that I haven't gotten around the testing, but I'm having my doubts. Meaning I'll be using these XP computers as well until they absolutely die.

Annoying Updates

I just had the annoying Windows update today that pops up every five minutes asking if you want to restart now or later. For some idiotic reason there's no option to say "Don't bother me for the next eight hours." They're very insistent and ridiculous.

And of course there's a constant Java update to be hearing about. I swear, I don't know precisely what they're updating, but whatever it is, these people definitely have a steady job. Sometimes I don't think there's really any update at all, that they're just trying to rope more people into installing the Yahoo toolbar. Good grief. How about just doing an update or having an option that says "I Never Want The Yahoo Toolbar"?

No mention of annoying updates would be complete without the constant, steady updates for iTunes. It's never just a tiny patch either. The entire everything has to be downloaded. I have a slow computer. So it slowly plods through the entire process over the course of a light year or two.

All the badgering. How about you guys get it right the first time?

Encarta

Here's a good article on the Encarta encyclopedia software. They're discontinuing it as a product.

I guess I never realized it was so expensive at one time, in the $395 range. Or maybe thousands. But eventually it was down in the $22.00 range. Of course the problem with an encyclopedia on CD-ROM is that it's hard for one tiny disc to compete with the entire internet.

I used to have a version of this -- I think it was. But I got it at a garage sale or thrift store, somewhere like that, and definitely a lot cheaper. I looked up several things on it but by then in my life I didn't have a lot of reason to be looking up articles in encyclopedias. I could have used it in 4th grade though!

I remember some of the audio clips. And I had one (maybe the same one) that had some video clips, including JFK's famous quote at the inaugural, that kind of stuff.

Anyway, another famous thing from the '90s bites the dust.

Digitize Your Life

I've been giving serious thought (and follow through) to the idea of digitizing my life. That is, to collect all the papers and things I have, and I have boxes of them, then scanning them and putting them on a hard drive, then getting rid of the papers.

There are several issues involved though. Including the time it takes to do that. I see there are faster scanners but I hate to have to spend a lot of money getting a new scanner. My present scanner is fairly slow but still I could get the job done. Being slow, though, each stack of paper is almost like a mountain. Each one has to be put in there, given a file name, then hope I could ever find it again if I needed it; likely I won't need each and every one.

Another issue is the reliability of hard drives. How do I know that the hard drive I have will be working five years from now? But the stack of paper I know would likely make it, excluding a fire or some other disaster. Should I make copies of copies of copies, multiple hard drives, burning CDs and DVDs? Then if something gets renamed it can be very confusing. I have a certain sentimentality about some of the papers but not much. It's just I'd like to be able to reference one if I ever needed to. To digitize it all, though, is spending time on things, in addition, that I will never need.

I see also that they have scanners that can make the scans into searchable pdf files. Well, at this point, who knows, maybe that's a level of detail I don't need. Still, it sounds like something that would make everything easier to find.

I've been doing a little of this over the years. I am gung ho for it for a while, but then the enormity of the task usually wears down my resolve.

The PC Cupholder

I was absentminded in the car. My cup holder was out. It looks kind of like an open disc drive on a computer. I pushed it gently, actually expecting it to go in. It didn't, then I was reminded, it's not a disc drive but a cup holder.

The Video Professor to the Rescue!