Computers, you just gotta love them

howdy guys'n'gals

sorry i haven't been able to upload th eremaining stories but unfortunately my computer had a small problem........

in the middle of a defrag i suffered a blackout during a storm and it kind of upset things, my computer would detect the modem at start up but would fail to when i attempted to connect to internet............the short side of the story was that one of my serial/com ports had failed, and so had the 5 week old modem, prob even younger, but its going to be fun to get it replaced as my cat, god love him, had been sick on the bag which apparently must have contained the receipt and its been thrown out, grrrrr.

My anti spyware program was also up the**** and i was choking on all sorts of lovely junk.......end result.........wipe hard drive and start again........

5 days later i'm finally back online.........in the process of reinstalling and downloading programs again etc but i promise i will atleast try to get my other stories up there by the end of weekend

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Its hard to soar like an eagle........

when your surrounded by turkeys.......

Good advice, Elvin, but I'd upgrade it to a UPS -- uninterruptible power supply. Basically, it gives you 5 to 15 minutes of power after a power blackout. Enough to close down nicely and copy key stuff to your CD.

It's worth doing a bit of research on the UPS, to get the right size. The only downside to a larger one is the cost. Bigger will get you more time and/or let you have more things plugged in.

(Note: even a pretty hefty one won't let you run the heater. I wasn't there when the UPS buzzer went off and it took me an entire morning to figure out why I wasn't getting any power;

All those things that you're downloading? Save a copy to CD. Uh, now, not during those extra 5 minutes the UPS gets you.

I'm serious about that one. Especially Windows service packs and adware-busters and all other "protection" software and updates. One article, they experimented with a brand new machine and got seriously infected in the time it took to download the stuff. Besides, it's a lot easier than having to remember all the programs and go find them again. We also save any registration keys to the same CD.

We speak from experience. Hubby's a programmer for a small company; the guy who rescues customers who don't make backups regularly and who don't have UPS's sits beside him.

Good luck!

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Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl

Hmmm...then I'm afraid that you belong in the doomed community of people whom electronics hate. They just commit suicide whenever you come near.

Or something. My dad's the expert, not me. I just phone home and go, " Da-ad...what do I *do*?"

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What if there is a spoon?

Ah, well, at least you did what you could. As opposed to some of hubby's clients who get all the advice, even buy the UPS, and leave it in the box for a year.

__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl