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I may be some time...

The Strobe

15:55 / 08.03.03

My hard disk's shagged. Well, it's holding data, but Windows isn't the happy bunny it used to be. And it's fragmented to hell and back - 5 hours to degfrag 20% of it? I don't think so.

So I'm installing a new one. Have backed up data, etc, and can download non-huge programs over lovely broadband... but I might not be here for a few days, in a major way. All a bit scary, etc. But I need to do this for my work, sadly.

Wish me luck. I hate Windows.

netbanshee

16:12 / 08.03.03

defraging my computer today as well...have a mac so even though it's been tricky to clean up my startup disk, I'm still here. Best of luck...

Persephone

17:40 / 08.03.03

Bonne chance, Paleface & be back soon... things are in an uproar chez moi as well; but for a lovely reason, I am the very proud mama of my very own iMac. I type from its pristine white keyboard now. I shall never leave my house again.

The Strobe

18:22 / 08.03.03

Oh congratulations, Persephone. I'm hoping to acquire a Powerbook before the end of June, but that's not an option for writing an essay tomorrow.

Anyhow: Windows has gone on very smoothly. All the drivers worked, hurrah. New HD is slim and quiet and bigger than the old one, a tired old IBM that I think might be past its sell-by date. Have set up Acrobat and Winzip, am currently grabbing Mozilla (rid me of the Microsoft Menace) and then shall set Office going before I hit the bar.

Phew.

luminocity

02:01 / 09.03.03

Regarding defragging on recent Windows machines:
I had loads of trouble doing this, because there was some process that kept modifying data while the defragging was going on. This often caused it to start over so it could easily havelooked like a puny 20% in 5hrs. I solved it by using a program called EndItAll to kill all non-essential processes before attempting to defrag. If you reckon this might be the problem, try googling for it.

Tezcatlipoca

06:57 / 09.03.03

On the Windows not running front, have you considered upgrading your Windows OS, paleface? I used to have pretty much the same problems as you, escpecially with defrag, until I swaped 98SE for 2000. NTFS is much more stable than FAT, and, in the four months since the upgrade, Windows hasn't played up or crashed out once.

The Strobe

08:21 / 09.03.03

Luminocity: I did kill the non-essentials, trust me. It was going very slowly, and to be honest, it wasn't in a good way. I'm going to try defragging that disk when it's not the system one and it'll probably all be fine.

Tez: I do know what you mean, but I needed the damn thing working today, and to be fair, I've been very pleased with 98SE. And also... seeing as I'm planning on changing platforms this summer, I'm really not keen to spend too much time/effort/cash on getting this thing working. It does work fine, 99% of the time... until about a week ago. I blame Direct Connect, personally.

The Strobe

15:46 / 09.03.03

Hmn. It appears to be a hardware problem; either that or some nasty hangover from the old system. I've only reinstalled documents, mp3 files and non-registry requiring stuff from that on here... it tends to fall over at the sight of Mozilla or Trillian. Might be a network thing.

We'll see... two weeks and then I'm at home. And then Switching to that Powerbook seems very tempting.

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