etc.

I am fervently resisting buying a new computer and it is taking every ounce of self-control in my little being.

I’ve had it in mind that the troubles began last year, and I have been consistently blaming those troubles on spyware and the injurious ways of Internet Explorer. When I took to using Firefox full-time last Fall, it seemed, for a while, that all was well in the world again, but the truth of it is that my fearless little warrior is 4 and a half years old, and computer-years are a bit like dog-years, aren’t they? In which case, I am working with a 31-year-old laptop bloated with enough application scree to render it almost unusable.

I spent four infuriating hours on it last night, running Spybot, SpySubtract, Norton, ScanDisk, a defrag, uninstalling programs I don’t use anymore, and doing a general clean-up (pesky tmp files and deposits, be damned). I stopped just short of completely reformatting the hard drive (which I would very much like to do, but cannot, for various reasons) before throwing up my hands in despair. The truth of it is, I only really play at being a tech-type, I’m not so very good with hardware, and would very much like a micro-computer-specialist-angel to arrive at my doorstep, offering up his/her services with reckless abandon.

Failing that, I will continue to troubleshoot, since a new computer has not been budgeted for this fiscal year (nor the next, likely). If you have any experience with this sort of thing, or know of a magical fix-it that can be applied, or a priest or Wicca who might be able to help, let me know?