samdring
15th of December 2004 (Wed), 13:00
Is an informed idiot technically better or worse than the common or garden variety? Tarry with me a while…
It’s a weekday evening and I need to finish a piece of urgent work but am bored and so decide to have a go first at sorting a recurring Win XP problem. My system:
· Mostly loads OK but sometimes hangs with no access to taskbar. (Can be resolved by logging off through Task Manager and logging on again)
· Noticed that MSConfig always has 2 identical entries on start-up tab for EM_EXEC.exe which sometimes loads 2 mouse icons. (Conflict?)
Decide, through a lengthy but logical process of indecision, to unload mouseware, which succeeds in removing both entries in start-up tab (Hurrah) but causes XP to create 2 icons for Direct CD (Boo) - this turns out to be a real nuisance and I fail to see the connection.
Now for the really clever bit!
Managing so far with a very unresponsive mouse (Logitech optical remote), I decide to use system restore ‘cos my new set-up is worse than the old. With gay abandon, I choose my date and watch XP do its impressive stuff. ‘Welcome’ appears with its usual sense of ridicule but is accompanied by a dialogue box (asking for a file) which cannot be activated through the keyboard whatever I try.
I now have the most stable set-up ever – a mouse-less system requiring a rodent to load the mouse.
But wait – there are more clever bits to come!
Repairing XP, through CD boot-up, I sit mesmerised as it grinds its way through a few (!) screens of exciting things on offer when it wakens me with a fairly familiar box requesting the same Logitech driver. Is my mouse working? Can the keyboard access the browse-file facility? Is Microsoft a Small to Medium-sized Enterprise?
A clean install, of course, gave me back my system after many enjoyable hours of re-loading Office and other software.
Moral of the tale
“A little bit of knowledge goes a long way towards ensuring that a fowl-up is a proper cock-up.”
It’s a weekday evening and I need to finish a piece of urgent work but am bored and so decide to have a go first at sorting a recurring Win XP problem. My system:
· Mostly loads OK but sometimes hangs with no access to taskbar. (Can be resolved by logging off through Task Manager and logging on again)
· Noticed that MSConfig always has 2 identical entries on start-up tab for EM_EXEC.exe which sometimes loads 2 mouse icons. (Conflict?)
Decide, through a lengthy but logical process of indecision, to unload mouseware, which succeeds in removing both entries in start-up tab (Hurrah) but causes XP to create 2 icons for Direct CD (Boo) - this turns out to be a real nuisance and I fail to see the connection.
Now for the really clever bit!
Managing so far with a very unresponsive mouse (Logitech optical remote), I decide to use system restore ‘cos my new set-up is worse than the old. With gay abandon, I choose my date and watch XP do its impressive stuff. ‘Welcome’ appears with its usual sense of ridicule but is accompanied by a dialogue box (asking for a file) which cannot be activated through the keyboard whatever I try.
I now have the most stable set-up ever – a mouse-less system requiring a rodent to load the mouse.
But wait – there are more clever bits to come!
Repairing XP, through CD boot-up, I sit mesmerised as it grinds its way through a few (!) screens of exciting things on offer when it wakens me with a fairly familiar box requesting the same Logitech driver. Is my mouse working? Can the keyboard access the browse-file facility? Is Microsoft a Small to Medium-sized Enterprise?
A clean install, of course, gave me back my system after many enjoyable hours of re-loading Office and other software.
Moral of the tale
“A little bit of knowledge goes a long way towards ensuring that a fowl-up is a proper cock-up.”