Saturday, December 18, 2004

Service Pack 2

My computer has been sneaking off in the middle of the night and connecting up with Microsoft's Service Pack 2's download elf. I have a dial-up connection, so my computer is not on all the time. However, there are times when I am up at 3 a.m., and I noticed that the computer seemed busy in the background. I didn't give it much notice until one of my favorite video games quit working (Puzzle Inlay). It got to the point that when I tried to play it, the computer would crash. I would reboot, and it would crash again. If I didn't load the game, everything was fine. I removed Puzzle Inlay and reinstalled it. Still, it crashed the computer every time I tried to play it.

Then last night, I wanted to back up some files on CD. I sat down to the computer around 3 a.m., and whaddya know? I get a message that Service Pack 2 is ready to be installed. That sneaky computer had managed to download the whole thing a little at time. The total download took over 7 hours so I know it had to be done in portions since my ISP only allows me to be online for 4 hours before it resets.

Okay, I may as well let it install, right? I had planned to take my tower down to Computer Smith's and let them install it. Then they would be in a position to troubleshoot all the problems that will arise. I always have problems. Has anything ever gone right with my computer? Every small change becomes a monumental problem. So, I figured, let it install. When it screws up, I'll take it to Computer Smith and let them sort it out.

However, there is one thing that I didn't count on. After all the files were installed and I restarted the computer, I started my Nero CD burning program. Up pops a message from Microsoft, "There is a known incompatibility issue between Nero and this version of Windows." Drat!

The solution is simple, well, sorta simple. I have to go to Nero's website and download something. I get there, and there are six downloads. I start off on the first one. The estimated time that it will take is over 3 hours. Well, I guess I won't be burning any CDs tonight.

Wrong! I decided to try anyway. So simultaneous with the Nero download, I am backing up my e-mail on a CD Rom. We'll see how it works. What's the worst that can happen? I'll have another really shiny Frisbee. Knowing me, though, there will be something worse that happens. I just don't know what it is yet.