No, no, no, no, NO! (Computer Death)

[Mousey]

So, as the title says, my computer is dead. Kaput. Finished. Borked. dieded. B0rked. Rusting. DEAAAADDD!
Thank god for flash drives. Though that, too, got near death a la washing machine. Though nothing is too messed up *i think*
I'm on my bro's computer, and this is mostly to get people to contemplate how to get a computer to me when they don't know where I am and to give people a reason for why I'll be disappearing for weeks on end. Though I've been doing that already...

[Dragon Writer]

i washed mine once. Came out perfectly fine. Unfortunately, they hate library computers, oso i havne' t nbeen able to help you. *Hides from you before you can slaughter me* beware-phantasma and me will haunt you to the death!

[Neo]

That sucks...Yeah I'm totally sure everyone will be completely and instantly willing to send you a computer! lol. Hi, I'm Neo by the way. Something of an oldbie, in time registered, anyway. I only have a few posts so I personally don't believe I deserve to be called an Oldbie. But anyway. I can't send you a computer but if you want to email me I can give you computer recommendations based on what your needs are...I'm sure that's not very helpful lol.

[EricG1793]

Ahhh, computer death.... Shall I tell my story of saving one, shall I, shall I? Hmmm....

Well, since I already told the story on another forum.... *Searches there for the post I made....* *After a half hour of searching....*

Here it is!

"Oh, no, I hate throwing away computers (Unless it's a Dell; show no mercy for them or sell them to some "sucker" who is loyal to that company!). At the beginning of this thread I was talking about our old ABS. It's seven years old, and it still runs fine. What happened is we attempted to upgrade it from Win. 2000 (which was already upgraded from '98, so we don't abandon our computers after a couple years) and it failed. It couldn't connect to the Internet for some reason because the ethernet card wasn't recognized by the computer so it couldn't activate Windows, and... Windows died. So we decided that the computer had been through enough and bought a a new desktop (against my better judgment from Dell). In my spare time for the joy of it I was trying to get that computer to work. I figured out how to delete the Win. XP partition and to install Windows 98 through a command prompt through the Windows 98 startup disk. This is a relatively simply task, but hey, I'm fourteen! And when '98 was back on one of the CD drives wasn't working but after a while it just worked again. It took a long time, but I didn't do anything, the ethernet card just started working too so it's a completely functional computer again. Except for the fact that we took the Sound Blaster sound card out of it and put it in the new desktop (because the new Dell doesn't have the digital audio out port...) and now it doesn't have one. We had also added RAM to the computer a few times. But that computer had been transported around a lot, from a couple of offices, in cars a few times (and even in the back of a truck once) and the hardware was never hurt by that. It's at its well-deserved retirement at my grandfather's simply for Internet now. And because it's ol' reliable and it's an ABS that's why I voted for ABS in my poll. Also ABS seems to give you the best configuration for the money."

End quote

That was a from a thread I created about who makes the most ultimate pre-built computer. It was a battle between ABS, Voodoo, and Alienware. So excuse the hints that are in there about ABS being the best of the best. I was making that a biased story. But that was a story about how our old computer ALMOST died, but I saved it and now it works 100% like it did when it was new.

[Mousey]

*Snicker*
I'm on my new computer now, and guess what? It's got a little twiddly mouse thingy and I LURVE it. Plus it *unlike my dead one* HAS ALL THE DANGED KEY TOPS! I HATE laptops that don't have all the key tops. Makes my life difficult and I don't like that.
Only downside is that the danged comp only has one USB thingie, so I now have an unwanted extra cable kicking around that is four USB thingies on one little square thing. But I refuse to use any keyboard besides the one on the laptop or any mouse besides the one on this, because it's TOO DANG COOL! And much too much fun to play with. muuuuch too much fun.
Oh, yeah, I got this a little after Eric's post. *does mental math* Yeah, Sunday. So this is belated by two days but m'eh I like leaving you guys hanging :P.
-Moosey

[kk]

Hmmm...sounds fun!

I have a laptop, only it doesn't have any USB things, mainly because it's an ancient Toshiba Satellite Pro, with Windows 95 on it. It's faster than the desktop Compaq I got from my church, but my friend's iPod's hard drive is bigger than the two put together. But hey, they both have Microsoft Word, and that's the only program I ever use...I wouldn't even dare trying to connect one of them to the internet. Who knows what they would do? :-) (I said that because I have a history with owning weird computers; most of my friends know me by it. Mainly because the desktop PC I have wakes up by itself, whether I turn the "wake up" function on or off. And the laptop...well, it was broken, and my sister started talking to it in English, at it started working. And believe me, she's no wizard...)

[EricG1793]

Oh, Mousey, that sounds REALLY cool! What kind is it?

*Gives challenging glare* Does it have a MoodPad? My HP has a little window that you open up, and when you move your finger around it makes colors... like a mood ring. Although I don't think it actually senses temperature of my finger.... I think it depends how fast I move it. But it does have a pressure graph, too. I like to challenge myself to liiiiiiiiiightly touch the mouse pad and make the minimum amount of pressure come up on the graph.... These can sometimes keep me amused for an hour. I have such simple pleasures.

[vashmata]

that sounds kinda cool. I like watching anime on my pc, to the point that i'm addicted to it. So, do you guys prefer windows or mac?
I prefer windows because, well, it's the best.

what kinda programs do you guys use for music?
I use foobar for music and vlc for TV shows
(Sorry for kinda changing the topic)

[kk]

I use Windows, nay, I depend on Windows. I run the computers and projectors at my church on some Sunday mornings, and they have two computers, a PC with Windows, and a Mac. The week the PC crashed was a dreadful day indeed, because it was my week to run it, and no one really knew how to use a Mac. Fortunately, I survived, along with the computer equipment. All four of my computers (two for everyone to use, my desktop in my room, and my ancient laptop) have Windows on them (the two main computers have XP, my desktop has 98 SE, and my laptop has NT).

[EricG1793]

Well, for music programs, I always use Audacity. Although I wouldn't be caught dead saying the stuff I was recording was music. My friend and I talk about random stuff, make weird noises, and then use Audacity to mess around with it, like speed it up, slow it down, make it high pitched only.... It's quite fun and literally amuses us for hours.

But for music I use Rhapsody, usually. I got an account, and I can play (NOT download!) 25 songs free in one month. I think it's a pretty good thing to have on my computer, if I don't feel like searching for a CD to play.... To play DVDs I always use HP QuickPlay.

For photo editing/organizing, etc., I primarily use Google Picasa 2 to organize, Email, etc., and Kodak EasyShare to crop, enhance, etc.

[vashmata]

So I'm still number 1 when it comes to how many computers my family has. I have 2 computers and an axim (dell pocket PC). My brother #1 has 2 computers and an axim. My other brother #2 *pauses to check his room* has 4 computers. My mom has a computer. My dad has 1 computer and 2 laptops.
How do we have all this? Well, my dad fixes people's computers as a side job. Sometimes, they need to change parts, so he takes their old part, buys a new part, usually a hard drive or RAM, and charges for the old part. Therefore, we get to keep all the old parts. Also, we like to buy new parts all the time, and my older brother can't let go of his junk, so we have a lot of parts.
I've personally gone through about five computers that worked fine until they unexpectedly showed a blue screen and never turned on again...No, it Isn't my fault! I swear!
Oh, and what's wrong with downloading things?

Looking at the next post, I say:".........Oh..."

correction-my brother #2 actually has seven computers and one laptop. I told him i thought he only had four computers. He didn't move. Then he said, "It would only be funny if you said 'I thought you only had 16 computers', because I'm crazy. A normal person would think four is a lot. I think 16 is a lot, after all, once I actually had that many."

Candyman Jr, Master Procrastinator, Joe Green (pen name), Vashmata

[wolf_wizard]

Isn't it like... illegal to download people's music from the internet? So... I wonder what could possibly be wrong with that?
I use Rhapsody for music to!

[EricG1793]

Exactly. That's why I use Rhapsody. Either you PLAY it to yourself once on a limited time a month, or it forces you to PAY and download. With iTunes, you can still download MP3s from anywhere and store them on the program and your iPod. So it's not as easy to accidentally get in to trouble with Rhapsody.

My mom has a friend who pays for videos, music, etc. and is dowloading things, like, literally 24/7. Actually I don't know IF they pay, but I suppose they do if the cops haven't arrested them by now. Any who, they got this brand new computer, and within a few weeks of ownership it was getting REALLY slow and unresponsive. So I introduced them to Ad-Aware (I'm sure most of us know what that is, but for those who don't it's a free anti-spyware program). Then the computer was running as good as new, and continues to do so, as long as they scan Ad-Aware at least once a day. I do my Ad-Aware at least once a MONTH, and I don't do it because my computer's slow. I don't get viruses and junk on my computer. Probably because I do'nt mass download music and videos. And if I don't download things at all, I can't get arrested for anything. And, again, I hardly get spyware. It's probably about 13 "critical objects" in a month.

[vashmata]

Originally posted by EricG1793:
My mom has a friend who pays for videos, music, etc. and is dowloading things, like, literally 24/7. Actually I don't know IF they pay, but I suppose they do if the cops haven't arrested them by now.

I don't know about in the US, or anywhere else, but here (in Canada), I don't think we can get arrested unless we sell people the stuff we download. I'm not exactly sure though. Anyway, wherever your mom's friend is, he/she might not be paying, depending on the law there.

So I introduced them to Ad-Aware (I'm sure most of us know what that is, but for those who don't it's a free anti-spyware program).[...]And, again, I hardly get spyware. It's probably about 13 "critical objects" in a month.

Really? I'm practically always on the internet, yet I never get anything-no viruses, no spyware, no adware, no Trojan horses.... And 2 good programs are: AVG Antivirus (which you can get for free, or pay to get more features) and Microsoft Windows Antispyware.

Candyman Jr, Master Procrastinator, Joe Green (pen name), Vashmata

[wolf_wizard]

Are you sure it's legal in Canada, because that doesn't make sense to me. Technically it's still stealing, right, because you don't pay for it. Everyone would be able to do it and not get in trouble, while it took business away from the people who made the music/movie/whatever it is you're downloading.I'm not sure about it in Canada- see my Location, so i'm not really sure, but it doesn't sound right.