What a week, windows reinstall

I have just had the most hectic week due to a windows reinstall.  A full 9 days later and my computer still isn’t quite right.  So many things went wrong with the windows reinstall and then got worse when I tried to install my essential programs.  It seems that windows, windows update and zone alarm do not play well together.

The windows problem started abruptly mid installation when it said it could not find a file.  I originally thought maybe a bad burn on the cd so did it again with a new cd and realised it wasn’t a burn issue.  The reason it could not find the file was because during the installation process my cd/dvd drive was disabled and was no longer recognised.  I googled it and found I was not the only one having this problem and is a known issue.  The windows solution was ever helpful and suggested installing 2000 before XP on a different partition so you could locate the files on your hard drive, use another XP disc and they mean BUY a new disc or some other ridiculously complicated means.

Why would I be buying a new disc when I have a perfectly valid key and disc that I have already purchased?

Why would I be hoking about looking for my 2000 disc to install XP?  Even if this was still being sold, I would supposedly be having to purchase another product first.

My solution, find a cracked version of windows, burn to disc install it so I can then install my legitimate and valid windows over the top.

The funny thing is that the cracked CD worked well, no cd issues.

I’ve no idea what the moral of the story but it was a bad start to my reinstall which only got worse when zone alarm started to molest my photoshop.  More of that to come.

TLR

Tags: cd rom drive, error, file not found, installation problems, windows xp

Blogging on to go

The magic of iPhone which enables me to email from my mobile means I
can now post a blog on the go. What next will the iphone give me? Full
blog on my iPhone experiences to come soon.

I’m back

Hello all!  I’m back in a new location.  Anyone who knew the blog from before will know it came from an old site shared with another person.  Unfortunately due to some big communication issues the old site is no more and I had to find a new home.  It was about time I branched out on my own.

For anyone who doesn’t know me I am the lone researcher, a 26 year old female computer science PhD / lifer who does other stuff apart from the PhD but it always involves researching something.

I’ve been a bit lazy and I am using an existing wordpress theme instead of my own design but when I saw this desktop clutter one I couldn’t resist.  It looks like my desk on a tidy day so I had to have it.

As it’s a new site and a new beginning, I’ve decided to start fresh with the blog posts and not bring any of the old with me.  It’s all part of the great big declutter.

That’s enough for now.

I’ll post back when I can

TLR

Tags: fresh start, new blog, the lone researcher