Annoying Computer Problems
Mood:  down
Topic: Computer Troubleshooting
I'm currently sitting in my office at work, on a weekend, working on my To Do list in Microsoft Access. (The fact that said "list" is more than 400 pages long might be seen as a sign that I'm an "obsessive compulsive", but the reality is that I use my To Do database to manage numerous long-term projects, not just daily tasks.)

Unfortunately, I'm currently wrestling with a computer-related problem which makes it a lot more difficult to get anything done. For the first couple of years, I never had this problem with my Gateway notebook PC. Then one day, I tried to run the thorough ScanDisk utility, and was unable to do so, because it told me that there was an open program which kept trying to access the hard disk (which is a no-no when running ScanDisk). That also affects my ability to defragment the hard disk, because Defrag often requires that one successfully repair the hard drive with ScanDisk first.

The thing is, I had no other program running at the time, when I was trying to run ScanDisk. Or so I thought. But it quickly became apparent that there was, in fact, a program running in the background, because whenever I would disconnect my modem, I'd get a dialog box asking me if I wanted to "work offline", even though I had made no attempt to use Internet Explorer or to access any website. Initially, this only happened when I would boot up after the computer had been turned off; but later, it became more frequent and obnoxious.

It seemed pretty apparent to me that someone had planted an undesirable program, on my computer, which was trying to access a website (or e-mail address) without my consent. A virus? I thought that might be the case, but I recently installed (and updated) Norton Anti-Virus 2004, with which I scanned for viruses. That didn't solve the problem. Yesterday, I ordered a downloadable program, called Spyware Stormer, thinking that perhaps it was "spyware" that was causing the problems.

Initially, after installation of that $30 program, SpywareStormer said it had found spyware, and it ostensibly deleted the spyware. But already, I've experienced the same problem again. (I feel like I wasted my money. Fortunately, I think that the company has a 90-day moneyback guarantee; I'll have to check the documentation.)

Of course, I don't see the Work Offline dialog box when I'm online (as I currently am), but there are times when I want and need to use the computer without being connected to the Web, and seeing that dialog box constantly is more than a little distracting. Plus, on a couple of occasions today, my computer crashed even when I was online, in response to actions which shouldn't have caused it to do so. Thank God that Gateway had the foresight to include a tiny Reset switch (accessed with a paper clip) on my computer. I can't tell how many times that little feature has saved my behind! Why so many computers lack that feature is beyond me.

I sincerely hope that I won't have to format the hard disk drive and start from scratch, because I have a lot of programs installed on this computer, and reinstallation is a pain in the posterior. Hopefully, my CD burner is still working, because I definitely will want to save all recent document files on CD-R discs (since many of them are too big to fit onto a floppy) prior to making any radical changes of that nature.

Introductory Message
Mood:  bright
Topic: A Brief First Message
Hello, my name is Mark Pettigrew. I'm a 48-year old man from the Chicago area, currently working as a legal secretary.

I've had some articles published in national magazines, in the distant past, but I've never participated in a blog before. This seems like a great opportunity to publicly comment on a variety of subjects of substantial interest to myself, and also a great way to share knowledge which others such as yourself might find helpful. Perhaps it will also prove to be useful as a means of enlarging my circle of friends.

I've had a bit of training in Web design, although it remains to be seen how useful that will be with respect to this blog site. (At the moment, I'm entering this as a plain text entry, because I don't have my HTML reference book handy, but I'll very likely use HTML in the future, for links and so forth.)

To see a site I created in Spring 2002 as the "finals" project for the Web Design certificate course at Truman College, feel free to visit www.f3mpphotos.bizhosting.com. I apologize for the banner ads there; as in the case of this blog site, they're a necessity until I can afford to pay for a different plan. (I should mention that the hosting company occasionally advertises companies of which I disapprove; e.g., casinos.)

In the next entry (or possibly the next several entries), I hope to give a bit of a preview of things to come, by listing some of the topics I plan to write about in the blog. This will enable you to get some idea of whether or not you might find it rewarding to visit my blog and to periodically check it for updated entries.

However, I don't want to be so verbose (at least with respect to this first entry) as to alienate potential visitors. Therefore, for the time being, I believe I'll bid you all a temporary farewell, in the hope that we'll soon meet again.