(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

I've had a pretty good time lately, but for some reason, all I feel like posting about are the little bits of bad news:


1. While I know what to do when my wireless fails, there seems no easy way to deal with the quality of the connection. It used to be that "very low" strength was more than adequate for me, but nowadays I keep hitting Refresh to deal with a stalled page. Is the source further away than before? More likely, given performance on non-Net matters, I just need to replace this 2004 PC.

That's where I get apprehensive. Will I find a good one with XP, or will I have to settle for the almost universally panned Vista? Or will I become a Mac man again for the first time in more than a decade? I keep fearing that I'll overlook some compatibility issue or leave something important behind on the old computer.

Uch, I have so little faith in my ability to do things independently.


2. Netflix hasn't been as kind as usual lately. First I make two priority choices in a row that turn out to be on the "Long wait" or "Very long wait" lists -- something that apparently cannot be determined before the DVD in question is next in the queue. And today, I get a buggy disc that keeps freezing and skipping ahead. I don't think I missed much in the middle, but I couldn't see the ending. I almost wish it were worse so that I'd be motivated to get a good version, but I've seen enough not to bother. (The movie is Kramer vs. Kramer. Impressive in realism, but not fun enough for a second viewing any time soon.)

3. This is trivial, but I felt like punning: The big right burner on my stove has almost literally shuffled off its mortal coil.

Comments

[richardf8]

"I keep fearing that I'll overlook some compatibility issue or leave something important behind on the old computer."

Of course you will, so don't fear it, just accept it as a given and understand that if it's important enough, you'll find a workaround and if not, not. The key is to just be willing to take it in stride, one way or the other.

1 ,2, 3

[sleepyjohn00.livejournal.com]

1) You probably aren't going to be able to get a system with XP anymore. MS has locked all its channels into Vista Only. You may be able to find some shop that can 'upgrade' to XP ;)

My Windows counterpart, Jerry, spent two months cursing Vista, but in the time since has become a Vista fan, now that he understands how to make it work. I don't know if it's Stockholm Syndrome, or he really liked the Kool-Aid.

2) Jerry (the same guy) has had trouble with Blu-Ray over and over again; according to him, Sony has gone into DRM protection so heavily that sometimes it makes the DVDs unplayable. So it may not be Netflix fault.

3) Many people find stove puns ovvensive.

Re: 1 ,2, 3

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I'm not blaming Netflix for damaging the discs, but it would be nice if they checked the condition before sending it again. I also wish they could tell me beforehand that a disc will have to wait. Obviously, I want to see the whole queue in time, but I prefer to mix them up as I see fit.

Re: 1 ,2, 3

[richardf8]

3) That was really half-baked.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

Vista will probably work fine performance-wise as long as you have a truckload of RAM in the PC (4GB minimum). The biggest complaint I've heard is that the security settings make you confirm common actions way too much and prevent some older software from working. Maybe the next service pack will help somewhat.

To make sure you don't lose anything on the upgrade, back up your old PC to an external hard drive and copy the whole thing to your new PC (different directories of course, don't overwrite C:\WINDOWS etc.) You can parse through directories at your leisure and decide which old directories are useless system files and which you want to keep. And when you're done, you can use the external HD for periodic backups.

I have the same problem with Netflix occasionally. Their mailers have very little padding, so cracks and scratches happen about 5% of the time. I usually inspect the DVDs before I put them in, and if they still turn out to be unplayable, I report them as damaged and request replacements. It sometimes ruins the mood when you have to wait a few days to see the rest of the movie, but I think it's better than missing parts of the movie forever.