Need to catch some Zzz's? Try this post about computers.

Though the 2001 Compaq Presario still did everything I needed it to do, it seemed like it was doing it slower. As well as moving slow, it would sometimes stick on boot-up and had to be powered on twice. It had also come with the much-vilified Windows ME. The big problems I had with Windows ME were that doing a disk defragmentation was almost impossible and required about a half-hour of unsuccessful attempts. I had also once turned the computer off while it was processing something that was taking too long, and as a result the Windows Media Player never worked right again.

The obstacle was that the new computers on the market came with an operating system even more vilified than Windows ME, Windows Vista. Everything I read on the Internet indicated Vista was the digital equivalent of putting a pile of cow shit in your PC. At Fitzsimmons I would sometimes quiz callers on what operating system they used on their computers, and 100% of Vista users reported the cow shit analogy to be accurate. The only "it's not that bad" endorsements it got were from IT guys I know who probably can sift through the bugs more easily than most of us. Plus I didn't want to spend $300 or $400 replacing the software I've been enjoying all these years (some dates back to 1998!) with Vista-compatible versions.

Windows XP, by contrast, was supposed to be the best thing Microsoft ever came up with. A salesman at Best Buy told me the only way to get a Windows XP-loaded computer anymore was to buy from their business site. There I found computers that cost as much as the Vista-loaded PC's in the store, but with 1/3 the memory and speed. On the other hand they only needed 1/3 as much because XP was a leaner and meaner OS to run. So I asked a few questions and threw down for a Hewlett-Packard DX2450.

Now a part-time job began.

My plan had been to augment the new computer with the CD-RW drive and hard disc from the old Compaq. After opening it up, I discovered this new PC only used a connection called SATA, whereas the old stuff (four years old) was called EIDE. Secondly, there was a metal bar in the way where the CD-RW was going to go. There was no clear indication how or if this metal bar was to be removed. So I called Hewlett-Packard, and the Indian on the line indicated it should "pop out." So against my better instincts I put a screwdriver in there and wobbled it until the welds broke, which I guess was what you had to do. That was nutty.

Then I bought some EIDE-SATA adapters and tried to plug in the spare hard drive. XP didn't recognize the drive and neither did "BIOS." I used two different kinds of adapters and I dunno, maybe I didn't get a firm plug-in? I returned those and went with Scott's suggestion to buy a SATA spare drive, and a box to put the old hard drive in to use as an external USB drive. The SATA drive and external box have worked fantastically, so thank you, Scott! I now have 320 GB of porn-storing power.

A big part of the reason I wanted a XP computer was for my Cakewalk Home Studio 2 program, a major love of my life. It installed easily, BUT...a suite of effects plugins that I swear by weren't showing up in my effects list! And when I opened old projects, some of them were missing, meaning I'll have to reset a bunch of settings. Through reading I at least know this has to do with how my VST Wrapper reads longnames/shortnames. Funny how in the old Windows ME this wasn't the smallest hint of an issue, but with XP I've devoted a few hours to the topic and become a apprenticed computer programmer. The old ME computer was ready to roll in just an hour.

But oh, well. DVD player? Check. MP3 player? Check. Windows XP Pro-loaded computer? Check. I guess I'm modern now.

What's this Blu Ray stuff?