Finally, My Own Computer

Hooray, I finally can use the internet whenever I want! It really was frustrating to be restricted to only using it when I was on campus. That actually is a lot more often than you might think, I do have plenty of time to use computers at work, but I don't get to do the fun stuff. You know, listen to music, and watch videos, etc. (basically everything that makes noise). And depending on the keyboard I use, or the class, sometimes even typing is too noisy. At least, whenever I do much of that I have to use semi-cautious keystrokes. Boy, it's fun to bang on that that spacebar!

Anyway, I got this computer about a month ago from my sister. It was full of viruses to the point that the internet wouldn't even run, meaning that anti-virus programs weren't going to run either. So, we had to erase the hard drive. Supposing that someone in my family had some Windows XP software, I wasn't too concerned about the extreme of erasing the hard drive. No one had it. I don't really think they provide those anymore with new computers. I guess it's a good thing. I think that the license agreements on the cd roms include being able to put the software on two computers, though. I don't know. But, since I couldn't do it this way, I had to buy some. At least I did't have to worry that I bent any software agreement ethicalities.

Until then I had some Windows 98 on it (these cds were still floating around), which almost irritated me more than if it had no operating system at all. I'm a jerk, I complain about my parents' computer still having it pretty often. Anyway, when I first got the computer home, I tried to connect to the internet. However, all we have here is wireless, and Windows 98 didn't even have an option for that. Once I installed my XP, I again tried to connect to the internet through the little wizards, and it wasn't working. I spent too long trying to figure that out, actually. All the wizard seemed to tell me was that I was "missing hardware."

"Thanks, Mr. Wizard," I thought. "Your vagueness was helpful."

Then I remembered that one of the options for the wizard had a picture of a usb device. So the next day I decided to get me a USB wireless network adapter from Best Buy, and poof, I found my network and was on the internet.

Then there were still more problems to solve. When I turned on the computer for the first time I wondered what I could even do with it right away, and I thought that listening to a cd is simple enough, right? I stuck in a Rush cd, and...nothing. No sound. I went to the Control Panel, and there wasn't even an option to adjust the volume. Now, I just had a useless box that wouldn't even play a cd. However, once I got on the internet last night I was able to find a driver that downloaded in less than a minute, and there was sound! It was awesome.

The next really annoying problem was the appearance of webpages. They were huge, so large that there was this horizontal scroll button that I had to use to see the whole right side of the page. I wasted some more time screwing around in the Control Panel and Internet Explorer Options to try to fix it, but once again, all it took was a quick little download of a display driver and it was normal.

So, technically the computer wasn't entirely free. I had to buy some software and a usb adapter. But, I am very satisfied with myself that I was able to fix everything that was wrong with it myself. Now, if anyone needs help with old/used computers, or if you have to erase your hard drive, I might have useful suggestions.

1. If your Network Systems has no wireless connection option (despite windows having a wireless conncetion wizard), you're not going to be able to connect wirelessly without installing a PCI card internally, or getting an external usb adapter.
2. If something goes funky with your sound or visual, you best look into downloading drivers instead of wasting your time with the Help Glossary. There are free services on the net that scan your system and figure out what drivers need a boost.

I don't know much about computers at all. So, these are only suggestions...not true blue trouble shooting tips. They are just personal discoveries that helped me get my computer going yesterday. Once again, hooray!