I Deeply and Sincerely Hate My Computer

Sorry in advance, but this is going to be a rant.

I hate my fucking computer. About five days ago, it started acting weirdly, refusing to access certain sites, sites that have nothing to do to each other, as different as www.tsn.ca and www.halifax.ca. Now at first, it seemed like Flash might be a common denominator. But no. I can open some pages that have Flash elements, like www.addictinggames.com. So then I think it might be a virus of some kind. Run a full system scan with McAfee (or try to, that software takes forever), give up on that, get new anti-virus software which is much faster, and there is no virus. So then I figure something deeper must have changed. So I use the Windows Vista (how I hate Vista) restore tool. I go back 48 hours before I started having problems. But no good. I just can't figure out what is going on.

Then I hit on the idea that it might be a problem with my internet connection, so I plug my laptop into the connection (same ethernet cable, same modem, same everything) and it works just fine. Fuck. That means something is wrong with my computer itself.

So then, I physically open up the tower, and reseat the network card, something I have never done before, but I pulled it off, giving the interior a good cleaning with the blow-function of the vacuum cleaner while I'm at it to get rid of the dust. Turn the computer back on, and still nothing happening. GAH!

At that point, I give up for a few days out of frustration. After all, only some websites aren't working, the Internet is still usable.

Today I come back to it, and get on the phone to my ISP to see if they have any idea what might be wrong. They run me through a batter of tests that solve nothing. Then they suggest that I can almost definitely fix the problem by reinstalling Windows Vista. Well doesn't that just sound like a fun proposition. But if it's what I have to do, it's what I have to do. Now, my computer didn't come with a rescue disk, but it did come with a restore utility that says it will reset everything to factory settings. Surely this should fix the problem.

So I go through the entire rigmarole of backing up my files on an external hard drive, and reinstalling Vista on my computer. All the while, I'm thinking great, when all this hassle will be done, everything will be fine. After about an hour, it's all done. I open up Internet Explorer (since reinstalling got rid of Firefox), and check one of the sites that wasn't working for me. Son of a bitch! It still doesn't work! All that work, all those programmes that have to be reinstalled, and it still doesn't fucking well work.

I am now utterly and completely at wits end. I'm approaching the point of giving up and dragging the demonic machine down to the store where I bought it and getting them to fix it. The problem with this is that whenever I take a computer with a problem to be fixed, they can never replicate the problem, so it doesn't get fixed (and reappears when I get it home) and they charge me anyhow. It's extremely annoying.

The urge to throw this machine off my balcony is steadily rising, but I am restraining myself because I can't afford to replace it.

If anyone reading this thinks they might know what is wrong, and what I can do to fix it, please leave a comment or e-mail me at ts-blog@live.ca.

Update on Feb. 26: I officially give up trying to understand computers. Over night, without me doing anything, the problem resolved itself. I don't understand, but I'm not going to question it. If only it had corrected itself before I reset my computer to factory.