I'll Drink to That...

Computer virus issues, a 4 week long sinus cold, and a host of other problems have pulled me to the edge this month. I was having issues with installing Adobe CS3 (even after ridding my system of the over 800 infected files from the current round of internet virus') and discovered there was an error in the registry that was creating the software install problem. At this point my computer is working fine as I managed to clear it of the virus' using a free Malware removal program, but I just can't seem to get Adobe CS3 to install properly. The error was in the MsiExec.exe file in System32 and the fix for it (from Micosoft.com) was to re-register that file. So I go thru the step by step instructions from Microsoft, and it tells me I have to run the re-registry in safe mode. So I reboot and try to get the computer to start in safe mode using the F8 key, but it won't bring up the screen option, only the boot drives options (floppy, DVD, etc). So I go back to the instructions and it offers a second option to go and run MSCONFIG and set it to boot in safe mode from there. I go there, do that, then reboot the computer as the instructions suggest. Only problem now is that it just keeps rebooting all by itself, over and over again. No matter which option I chose from the safe mode options list or the start windows normally option, it just keeps doing the same thing - rebooting repeatedly.

So I go frantically searching my desk for the Windows CD and eventually find it between two pieces of paper on my paper tray. I throw the CD in and think that if I boot from the CD I'll get past the rebooting issue and be able to start windows normally....no go. (surprise, surprise, surprise). My only option at this point was to reinstall Windows, but it won't accept my C drive partition, stating that it is either full or misconfigured. I know it's not full because I emptied a whack of my important files a few days back to my portable drive. The only option it would give me at this point was to reformat C drive, which is what it is doing now. Anything that was left on my C drive is now toast - all my emails, my contact lists & several photoshop style software programs I bought online that I don't have discs for - worth roughly 500.00 I figure. And with all my emails gone, so are my copies of the purchases and the passcodes & the download links to use those programs (I couldn't back up those files to my external drive because it was full from the drive back up I did two days ago, and then forgot about the emails back up). Hopefully I can find a few of the paper reciepts I printed up for these programs.

To add insult to injury, the Windows CD has now gone thru the process of reformatting my C drive to reinstall Windows, but that too has now failed and as I look behind me from my husband's computer where I'm typing this message, all I can see is a solid blue screen, and a faint flicker - like a weak heartbeat from a dying bird. I don't know weather to laugh, cry or shit the chair my sorry ass is parked in.

I would like to have the entire month of May 2009 striken from my memory banks, because:
1) I only learned one thing during this entire process (starting with the virus issues) - Microsoft desktop computer systems are shit;
2) I am now 8 business days into this issue, which is still unresolved, & out an additional $100.00 worth in useless spyware, anti-virus, and registry repair products that did nothing but create more issues than solve, but found a free Malware removal that did the trick;
3) I have lost 2 weeks worth of productivity that I will never get back, have 6 videos still waiting to be edited and uploaded to Youtube and no functioning software to work with;
4) I believe somebody has put a curse on me - there is no other possible explanation for what I've had to go thru this month. Technically, I don't have a right to complain because my worst day is still 100% better than 90% of the world populations best days - but I'm bitching about it anyway because I can.

I only have one question at this point. Is it just me, or have all Microsoft users become raging alcholics? The correct reply here is, "I'll drink to that".