I REALLY Hate Computers.

Good thing I didn't make a Frisbee out of that Sempron board. I've had the Pentium II-533 running for less than 24 hours and I am hating it.

Damnably slow (looks like putting XP on it wasn't a Good Idea). Won't connect at anything more than 44 kbaud (Sempron would give me 49.2 on the same modem). Only 2 USB ports, both positioned so that my USB 56k modem won't plug in. Won't install drivers for the same video card it was using 5 years ago. It took 45 minutes and 6 tries just to partially load the page at BartCop.com. Last night the damn thing couldn't find Google. I'm not about to put in email, XNews, or the other online essentials. The experiment's over.

This P-II and I have been enemies from the start; it was built for me by the brother of a friend, who assured me it would be all-new and cost $500 or so (if I remember right). Are brand-new cooling fans supposed to have worn bearings? Is the computer supposed to lock up 25% of the time when the (used, three-year-old!) modem is disconnected? Why does the computer lock up when I go to certain websites, like Tucows.com? Why does it lock up when the screen saver comes on? Why does it lock up when I try to shut it down? Why does it lock up when I start it up? Does anyone else have to completely reinstall Windows every 6 freaking MONTHS?!

I had the Blue Screen of Death on so often, it might as well have been desktop wallpaper.

I should have insisted that the prick who put it together make it right--new parts, like I said--but I went with just fixing the thing myself. It was that or take it a few hundred miles to him in Clearwater, Florida. Screw it, and him.

So...I'm pretty much reduced to reinstalling my arch nemesis, the hated Sempron board (MSI K7N2 Delta2). It did give me fewer troubles, I suppose--no way to upgrade the sound system, got to scrape Windows off and reinstall every other year, can't keep a bloody hard drive in the thing. Then there's the TV card that killed it this time around.

Maybe I'll play Frisbee with the P-II instead. Or rig it up for skeet shooting.