I am finally back online after 2 weeks of relentless computer problems.    It started after we re-installed Windows XP.    The computer would suddenly shut down and I thought that perhaps the XP hibernation mode had been switched on.    But then we started getting the dreaded blue screens and we realised that after 3 years of faithful service (14 hours a day for 3 years) that our faithful little PC was slowly dying.    So we did what any pet owner does when the pet is passing away in agony - we gave it a snappy salute, put it down and bought a new one.    The old CPU and old motherboard is now sitting in the corner in our newly-made “PC Graveyard” looking rather miserable with itself.

We decided that rather than pay 600-700 Euros for a brand new PC loaded with crap that we don’t need or want, we would instead buy the parts we want and build the computer ourselves.    Well, I didn’t make it as I am a total doof at this sort of thing - Monika’s brother (who is an IT engineer) got it done in a few hours all by himself.    He basically stripped out all the old parts and replaced them with the new parts.   We then re-installed Windows (which involved an agonizingly long and tedious phone call to Microsoft because our license key was frozen) and I then spend the rest of yesterday re-installing all the programs.

The new PC has a dual-core CPU which is basically two CPU’s working together in tandem.   So now each one takes an equal share of the load and programs are MUCH faster as a result.     We also upgraded to a 500GB drive (as well as keeping our existing 80GB drive) which may seem like a stupid extravagance but I often make backups of everything such as my CD’s, e-books, photographs, documents, correspondence and much more.    I was fed up having to watch the storage space so we didn’t run out.   So 580GB means that now we never have to think about it.    The price difference between a 500GB drive and a 250GB drive was only 20 Euros so we thought, what the hell.

But one tip for anyone thinking of getting a big drive like that : if you have 500GB, split it up into several partitions.    If you keep it all together then defragging will be a real bitch.    Split it up into smaller sections including one section containing only software installations, one section for backups, etc, and everything will be much simpler as a result.

I feel like I am surfing the net on Skynet now (cue Terminator music).   This thing is so fast that it’s freaking me out!  

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