Ms. Compy Fix-It Needs a Better Compy

Ms. Compy Fix-It here, with another post of computer awareness.

The last few weeks have been stressful indeed, with multiple problems on my work computer creating suspicions that ranged from simple Anti-Virus issues to core hardware malfunctions. I don’t even want to admit the number of hours both my boyfriend and I have logged trying to fix this jerk (no offense compy, I mean no harm). Here is a list of some of the things we did to give you an idea:

• uninstall Windows Defender.  Didn’t seem to help, so just deleted it.
• uninstall McAfee entirely.  No subscription, so would only be good for scans, and I had other programs to do that.
• made sure SpyBot and MalwareBytes didn’t have any resident applications running.  I had Avast, so decided to commit and keep those guys as scanners.  Besides, for some reason, SpyBot’s TeaTimer always used approximately 84,000K of Memory on this computer and I always had to Task Manager End Task it to oblivion.
• checked all video drivers to make sure they were up-to-date.
• uninstalled the video drivers and re-installed them just to make sure.
• uninstalled Avast because at one point it said it wasn’t running, but when I clicked “start program” it didn’t do anything.  Re-installed Avast because frankly it’s worth it.
• tried to use Internet Explorer in case it was a Firefox issue.  Seemed to have the same problems.
• re-formatted.  Twice.
• allocated nearly an entire 10 Gig partition to paging file.

So, the issues were as follows:

• every few seconds, whenever I’m typing, the web browser (both Firefox and Internet Explorer) pauses, like it’s doing right now, and a few seconds later it catches up to what I’ve been typing.
• sometimes when it does this, the whole browser goes non-responsive and a few seconds later usually comes back.
• in other programs, like PowerPoint, certain things would cause the program to do the same thing.  For example, I remember specifically trying to change the colour of one bar in a chart and this happened.  That’s what made us wonder if it was a video driver issue.
• scrolling would often pause the web browser and cause it to go non-responsive.

These may not seem like big issues, but a couple of times the non-responsive didn’t go away and had it not been for auto-recovery and auto-saving, I would have lost a whole heckuva lot of data.  Also, I can’t look when I’m typing or I’ll confuse myself as to what’s been typed (since it crashes and I can’t see what I’m actually typing in real-time).  That wouldn’t matter so much if I were writing posts all the time, or essays, or just typing a lot.  The problem is I’m often doing minor edits in presentations and I’m not sure if the program’s noticed my change or not, and it totally slows down my ability to work.  Also, it’s frustrating as heck.

Anyway, I started typing this because I found a site that claimed to have a solution that I wanted to test out and give kudos to, if it worked.  It did not.  No kudos to give today.  😦  Ms. Compy Fix-It needs your help.

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Curiosity Killed the Radio Star

Have you ever been struck by a desire to know something? Something that’s virtually impossible to ever know? I’m not talking how the world began, or what it’s like to go back in time. I mean really stupid things….. like how many people have stepped on that particular block of sidewalk since it was made. Or, how many people have placed their foot in the exact same position as you on that step (do you think it’s many, or very few?)…..

I get this all the time, and what drives me nuts is that since my conditioning to a world with computer memory, I feel if we’d only thought early enough, we could have recorded x if we’d just thought to ask. Like, what is the average rating of people’s moods when the sky appears light purple like right after a storm? How many people have listened to Pat Benatar while blogging in the last week?/month?/ever? Or even, how many times have I thought about peanuts in my life? Why do I need to know? I have no idea, but I just do. Yay peanuts!

That’s all.

Seven Seasons

building bridges from town to town
you’re leaving boards by the wayside
and down by the riverside
they’re calling your name

underneath your heavy cloak
I know you’ve bared your soul tonight
and by the morning light
you’ll be on your way

your temples aching
your memory, breaking
and time is taking
way too long
way too long

when you come back long from now
your reputation true and bona fide
I’ll be by the riverside
still calling your name
calling your name

          

          

Copyright L.M. 2008.  (written February 26th, 2008.).

Stalemate

I have a sight
I thought somewhere near
takes me a while to
to…..
well I should have lost it
perhaps
maybe
somehow
did
inside it burns
and I shiver
you know it’s cold
so very cold

I’m not hopeless
just delusional
apparently
and to make up
for all the lost time
somehow started
to believe in fairytales
masochistic? probably
I’ve heard it heals
or bides time
with other distraction
sort of like me
I guess that’s ironic
but really, not hopeless
that’s part problem
you see why
it’s the hope that kills
if I were numb
oh to be numb
I would lose fear
I would lose pain
I would lose anger
I would lose love
well, you’ve taught me
you can’t win them all
in my year of luck
my precious months
a troubled match
a frightened soul
helped onto my plate
peppered with perfection
here and there
and when that bell begins
I will be a mistake
and another chapter
in a drama
whose clout extends
far beyond
the amusing present time

I’m sleepless
and you know why
and you won’t tell me

I’m walking the lines
with chains around my neck
ball bearings in my throat
and hands behind my back
and I say “I’m starved”
and you say you’re tired
but give me food
that I can’t eat, smell, see
and say it ought to be enough
but death takes its toll
bending all rules
portraying life as such
well you feel remorse
but upon the next
bestow a fresh nothing
ready to be devoured
and kill another
just like before me
me
and after me

I’m still sleepless
could you tell me why?

I did have a dream though
yes I had to wake you up
you transformed
into the jerk
and I couldn’t get you to leave
I awoke frightened
with the door open

do you realize
character and honesty
can both be judged
by ignoring words altogether
and looking
solely
on what you do

so in this pretend world
this fantasy of yours
some things bleed
into mine
and I try to see
subtract the you
subtract the me
to look right through
to reality
but look at me
I play the fool
I’m just the tool
to set you free
of memory
of any need
of honesty
responsibility
respectability
honour, value
worth, and truth
you see, all these
I could be for you
but that fantasy
well it bleeds too
into one which you
have saved for me
I still can’t sleep
and I blame you

Copyright L.M. 2007.

What the Night Brings

It occurs to me that not a lot of people pull all-nighters.  I find it, well, good I guess.  They’re sometimes enjoyable…… but they have their moments.  Like, tonight, I stayed up (well I’m still up), and was working (the not-so-fun kind of all-nighters), but I luckily caught up on my junk so that makes me feel good.  However, I had a few fun experiences with my body hating me.  Here are a couple things that may happen to you if you pull an all-nighter, and you shouldn’t be surprised if they do:

• shaking.  Just general shaking in different parts of your body.  Tonight it was my left hand.
• weird popping feeling in your eye.  I don’t know what this is.
• random numbness, usually from sitting at a computer for long periods of time banging my head against the desk.
• dehydration.  It’s easy to forget to drink when you can barely remember to open your eyes.  (Also comes in the opposite form, when you’re obsessively drinking something to try and keep yourself awake.)
• hunger from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.
• random activity cravings.  Like suddenly wanting to go swimming, even though you haven’t in months.
• random food cravings.  Like clam chowder.
• sudden understanding of your pet.  It’s like we’re at the same intelligence level…..
• sudden ability to clean.  You might not have been the best before, but you’re Industrial Strength now……
• sudden memory recovery…… of all the e-mails you haven’t yet replied to.  Don’t be alarmed if you feel this crucial to complete immediately.  It’s normal.
• chest pains.  Yep!  Just as fun as they sound!
• waking up when you didn’t know you were asleep.  The best is when you’re holding something like a hair dryer or book, because you freak out when you wake up and you freak out again as you drop something.  (Bonus: when you’re on the bus, and you wake up with a jolt, having flung your arms wildly, only to get strange looks from the people around you/people you hit)
• brain pains.  You know how diagrams show the different sections of your brain and what they’re used for?  Well you just exploded the Common Sense one.  Congratulations!  You’re now among the other 90% of the population.  😛

I hope you’ve learned your lesson, because I sure haven’t…… Umm, what am I talking about again?  I should go.  I think I have an e-mail to write.  It’s for my cat.