Computer cursed

[dvandom]

Wednesday, Outlook stopped working on my work machine, and they ended up having to re-image my drive to get it to work again. Then, after spending time this afternoon getting everything back they way I wanted it (turned out I did have some stuff on C:\ that I needed), I got about an hour of work done before the machine powered down. It was as if I'd stepped on the power strip, but that wasn't it. I checked all the connections, no dice, wouldn't turn back on. Fortunately, the IT guys got it back up while I was down in the machine shop prepping some stuff for next week.

Then I get home, and my modem's not connecting. I check all the usual stuff, no dice. Call the company, walk though a fairly well-designed automated low-level tech support, still nothing. Get a real person, he has me check a few other things, nada. So I have a tech coming out Sunday afternoon. Then, just as I'm ready to eat dinner, the net comes back up...not due to anything I did.

Since I didn't do anything to fix it, I'm not cancelling the tech visit. My current theory is that someone else in the building recently added service, and that split signal JUST below the threshold for my modem to connect. As soon as they stopped downloading porn (or whatever), I reconnected.

Anyway, I expect it to flake out repeatedly over the weekend. In fact, it punked out while I was trying to send this.

Update: Turns out the cable guy was already poking around at 6:30 because of the other seven people who called in ahead of me. His tinkering got me brief bursts of connection then and later at 9:15 (which is when I actually got to post this piece), then he took it apart entirely and I got ready to go to the office for a while. But I saw him while taking out the trash, and helped him try to fix stuff (mainly providing light and futilely helping try to undo a rusted shut bolt). He got things working and put it all together, but will be back tomorrow to see if he can get a more permanent fix in.


On the plus side, my electric bill is less than half what it was for last June. My higher temperature threshold is definitely saving me money there.

Comments

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Can you back-up your outlook settings to something computer-independent? I have Thunderbird on a thumb drive (www.portableapps.com) which can handle most of the Outlook-type mail as a backup system. Admittedly, it doesn't have the junk-e-mail filter quite as good, but it's handy in a pinch.

Admittedly, I'm highly paranoid. I back-up everything to two CD's, and into each of my 2 hard drives, for multiple redundancy without messing with a RAD array.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I have to use Outlook at work, period. If nothing else, I need to maintain a number of room schedules on a shared calendar thing. I'm a little more picky about software at home, where I actually have control over it, but I just cheerfully dump problems on the IT guys at work, since it's their policies that keep me from using things that don't suck. :)

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Forgot to add, if you do decide to use the PortableApps stuff, I'd go for the bare-bones version and then add stuff in myself, it's much easier then having to go and delete everything you DON'T need.