Dabbling with the black arts

[hairydave]

I am not one, for fine careful work or mechanical sympathy or, come to that, Microsoft. however, Monday night saw me screwdriver in hand (the tool, not the drink, i was on the corona) fitting bits to my dinky little pc in an attempt to make it work (i bought it about 2 months ago as a bare bones ssystem)... now, as I've said, I'm not one for dainty stuff, and anything involving electricity is very much in 'the black arts' category, so i went for the time honored approach of 'just plugging stuff in'... and somehow, when i hit the power switch, it all worked, no smoke, sparks, beeps, blue screens or grinding noises However, last night came the part i was dreading, i had to install an os and set it up... this really was new territory for me, as I use an apple, which was up and fully running within 5 minutes of coming out of the box (in the car on the way home from the shop as it happens, the battery even had juice), so imagine if you will, my trepidation at having to format hard drives, make partitions, install windows and explain in no uncertain terms to the idiot thing that there is no such thing as the Internet... i managed this with only the occasional word of guidance from my computer geek house mate, and very strangely, it all works... I am genuinely shocked at this for a number of reasons: it is a Microsoft box, it cos £120 quid, and i put the damn thing together! I'm still unsure when it comes to using it, everything is a little difficult and non intuitive, but i guess I'll get used to it... Am i silly for being proud of my achievement? have i sold my soul to the devil? should i stop rambling? ooh, damn, nearly forgot, the point of all this, can anyone recommend any useful little things for the computer? handy utilities, good bits of free ware etc? and is there a support group for idiots like me dabbling in black art of which they know not?
I'm fully aware this post is long and rambling, but it's a very slow Wednesday morning, and I'm trying to avoid having to switch the damn thing on (just because i built it, doesn't mean i have to like it!)

[Leithen]

Keep it switched off, it's all downhill from here (especially as you already use an Mac... dons flameproof suit)

[Plotloss]

Oh, I thought this was going to be a thread about car spraying...

[hairydave]

Leithen said:

Keep it switched off, it's all downhill from here (especially as you already use an Mac... dons flameproof suit)

the pc is only for running matlab, pro desktop, ideas and my old games (unreal, deus ex, screamer 4x4 etc, real high end stuff)

Plotloss said:

Oh, I thought this was going to be a thread about car spraying...

don't worry, that post is being saved for the chrismas holidays, you know, just when the wolworths ad, combined with the dodgey weather, family you haven't spoken to for a year and would rather it was longer and tacky chrismas decorations have just about sapped the last of your will to live, and ph is your only refuge, it'll be waiting... "i'm trying to paint my bonnet on my shed of a car..."

Edited by hairydave on Wednesday 8th November 12:05