Closing For Renovations

Okay, here's the deal.

My computer is 9 years old. And it is feeling kinda puny, so it is time for some upgrading.

It is a homebuilt computer, put together by my ex-husband, who is a computer geek. He's employed as an IT manager for a local architectural and engineering firm. So he knows a thing or two about computers and when he built this contraption for me, it was great! 20Gb hard drive, 512Mb of RAM, CD-ROM, floppy drive. Worked like a charm!

But now... it is very undersized. I have had to buy a 500Gb external hard drive for all my data files. All the program files remained on that tiny 20Gb internal drive, but it is now telling me it has less than 2% free space.

I can't even defrag the damn thing. You need 15% free space to do that.

So I decided it was time. Either buy a new computer or upgrade this thing. So I check out prices on new machines versus installing more RAM and a larger (much larger) internal hard drive.

The upgrades won out hands down. I actually do have a little experience with the innards of this thing as I replaced the CD-ROM when the old one crapped out. Plus I added a second 512Mb RAM modules a couple years back.

So I have purchased a 500Mb internal hard drive, a new IDE cable, two 1Gb RAM modules, plus a new webcam to replace the $20 thing that displays the fuzziest, crappiest, most off colour video that you can imagine (just look at my avatar - took that with the old webcam; I may have a pink complexion but that's ridiculous!).

For a sum total of $300.... that is all I spent on all of that. A mere $300... Canadian yet! So for you Americans, that is about $240.53 and for the Brits, it is 163.24GBP (I can't figure out how to make that cool capital L with the squiggle through it, so that's what you get.... sorry) or $180.94 Euros. For anyone else, you'll have to do your own conversion if you really care to.

So.... please keep your fingers crossed that this will work out. I have printed out the installation manual, I have read it over several times, I have asked my computer reference person (a friend) lots of questions and he has been very helpful.

So come tomorrow morning, I will have the door to the office closed (with a huge neon sign that says "NO CATS ALLOWED!!! PIPS - THAT MEANS YOU" and "DOG SPIT HIGHLY FORBIDDEN" as well as "ANTI-STATIC ELECTRICITY DEVICES IN OPERATION". I will then don gown, gloves and mask, a snorkel and fins, as well as my reading glasses and will get down to brass tacks to perform this major life threatening operation.

So if you don't ever hear from me by Wednesday..... it blew up and I am now smithereens plastered on the walls. Could someone please come rescue the dog and the cats? kthkxbye