Windows Update: My computer has been very unwell. It's had the digital equivalent of a stroke (temporary paralysis, emergency medical attention and gradual recovery, followed by the growing realisation that certain lower level functions down one half of the body will never work again). I'm still attempting to rescue information from my damaged data partition, and it's not a straight-forward task. Some of my files and folders are still readable, but a seemingly random selection have become totally inaccessible and it's proving to be a long job discovering which are which. I'm only smiling because I had the good sense to backup certain key files last month. Just not all of them, damn. One of the major casualties is my iTunes music folder, where every single tune is missing, presumed dead. Thankfully all those tracks exist on real CDs so I can upload them all again, which is why I'm glad I never decided to build a music library from virtual 79p downloads. Record shops - you can't beat them.
As several of you correctly pointed out, my hard drive is (technical term) buggered and I need a new one. No doubt this involves a very simple transplant procedure, just whipping out the old drive and sticking in a new one, but I'm one of the 99% of the population who thinks twice before attempting this sort of thing. Maybe later. Anyway, I took this digital meltdown as a sign that my computer was perhaps in need of replacement. Four years is a lifetime in the IT world, and what used to be top spec is now geriatric and clunky. So I went out and bought myself a new computer instead, like you do, which means I'm writing this post on my brand new shiny laptop. A keener geek than myself would probably drool over its multiprocessor functioning, turbocache graphics and X-black screen, whereas I'm just glad to have a computer that works again.
I've also splashed out and got myself a wireless router. Yes, I know I'm years behind the times in going mobile, but I'm looking forward to blogging from the sofa, or the bedroom, even (maybe one day) outdoors. But I could not believe how complex the router was to set up, and it was therefore only with sterling advice from two online friends that I was finally able to get my laptop attached to the internet. The whole tech-unfriendly process took hours, and I must say I'd never have guessed without assistance that the secure network password had to be precisely 58 characters long. So, thanks, and at least my neighbours won't be able to piggyback onto my router and spy on me now. Normal service is therefore resumed. Hurrah - no more kittens!
