If the is a blizzard tomorrow will you have to work?

[reebo]

Apparently the always-fickle rain/snow line drifted 20 miles further west than anticipated. So more eastern folk didn't get as much (any?) snow as anticipated. I'm in southern Loudoun County and we got about 5-6 inches.

[car54]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Car54: Sorry you've had such a run of bad luck.

Keeping your computer working mostly boils down to two things: Setting it to update automatically (via Microsoft Update) and keeping antivirus running. There are several free antivirus programs that all work very well: AVG, Avast, Avira, Kaspersky, and others. (They stay in business when people upgrade from the free programs--but the free ones are all most people need.)

If your current computer is able to get on the Internet, I would recommend you download one of the above programs and then schedule a "boot-time scan." This means the antivirus will scan your machine the minute it starts up the next time. It will take a good 30 minutes if you have it check everything (which is a good idea).

BTW, I too have a Dell and am still using Windows XP.

Thanks for the tips, Carl.

I'm afraid it's too late for my current machine though. It's a desktop type with the box you put on the floor. For some time now, there's been whirring and clicking noises coming from the box. I'm assuming it's the hard drive and it's working overtime on something I know not what. I mean it does this for hours at a stretch. And while it's whirring and clicking, an already slow machine gets even slower.

Did I click on the wrong thing and my Dell thinks I asked it to prepare General Electric's 57,000 page federal tax return?

All I wanna do is surf C-D....wahhhh

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by car54

Thanks for the tips, Carl.

I'm afraid it's too late for my current machine though. It's a desktop type with the box you put on the floor. For some time now, there's been whirring and clicking noises coming from the box. I'm assuming it's the hard drive and it's working overtime on something I know not what. I mean it does this for hours at a stretch. And while it's whirring and clicking, an already slow machine gets even slower.

Did I click on the wrong thing and my Dell thinks I asked it to prepare General Electric's 57,000 page federal tax return?

All I wanna do is surf C-D....wahhhh

It could just be the fan, which would be relatively cheap and easy to replace if you can find a new one. That's a mechanical repair, not technical.